The Xerophagy Supper Plate — Bread, Bean Spread, and Raw Vegetables

General Xerophagy Published August 02, 2026

Xerophagy — dry eating — is the strictest of the ordinary fasting disciplines: bread, water, raw or uncooked food, no oil, no wine. It is prescribed for the weekdays of Great Lent in the strict typikon, and it is where most people give up, because they picture a plate of nothing.

This is the plate that makes it workable. A thick spread built from soaked and blended beans, torn bread, and a board of raw vegetables cut properly — not baby carrots from a bag, but crisp fennel, radish, cucumber, peppers, and cabbage wedges with salt. It is a real supper and it holds you.

The protein comes from the beans and from a handful of nuts alongside. Where oil would normally carry the flavor, lemon, garlic, and salt do it instead, and the bean spread is blended with its own soaking liquid until it turns pale and thick.

FASTING LEVEL: Xerophagy (strict — no oil, no cooked food beyond the bread)
SERVINGS: 2 as a full supper
TIME: 20 minutes (plus overnight soaking)

INGREDIENTS

For the bean spread:
- 1.5 cups cooked white beans or chickpeas, well drained (or 1 x 400g can, rinsed)
- 3 tablespoons bean cooking liquid or cold water
- 2 garlic cloves, grated
- Juice of 1 large lemon, plus more to taste
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more
- Black pepper
- 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

For the plate:
- Good bread — sourdough, rye, or a plain lenten loaf
- 1 fennel bulb, cut into thin wedges
- 6 radishes, halved
- 1 cucumber, cut into batons
- 1 red bell pepper, sliced
- 1/4 small green cabbage, cut into wedges
- 2 carrots, cut into planks
- A handful of olives (if your rule permits them)
- 1/2 cup (70g) raw almonds or walnuts
- Flaky salt, lemon wedges, dried oregano

METHOD

1. If starting from dried beans, soak them overnight and cook them plain with a bay leaf until completely soft. Save the liquid. Canned beans work; rinse them well.

2. Put the beans, 3 tablespoons of liquid, garlic, lemon juice, cumin, and salt in a food processor. Blend for a full 2 minutes — longer than feels necessary. Without oil, the only route to a creamy texture is time and mechanical work.

3. Add more liquid a tablespoon at a time until it is thick but spreadable, like a soft hummus. Blend again.

4. Taste and correct: it will want more salt and more lemon than you think. Season until it tastes sharp on its own, since the raw vegetables are mild.

5. Stir in the parsley by hand.

6. Cut all the vegetables just before serving — the plate lives on crispness, and vegetables cut an hour ahead go limp and dull.

7. Spread the bean purée in a wide shallow bowl, dragging the back of a spoon through it. Dust with black pepper and a little dried oregano.

8. Arrange the vegetables, nuts, and olives on a board with the bread. Set out flaky salt and lemon wedges. Salt the vegetables as you eat them.

NOTES

- On oil days this becomes hummus proper: blend in 4 tablespoons of olive oil and tahini, and pour more over the top.
- Blend a roasted or raw garlic clove more than you think you want. Garlic is the backbone of a no-oil spread.
- The spread keeps four days and tightens in the fridge. Loosen with cold water and fresh lemon.
- Add soaked and drained raw sprouted lentils to the plate for more protein and a fresh, green bite.