Food in Daniel 1:1-16: the first report of a controlled experiment?

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon besieged Jerusalem and took Jehoiakim and some of his princes into captivity (Daniel 1:1).While in exile, Jehoiachim ate every day at Nebuchadnezzar's table in Babylon (Jeremiah 52:33; II Kings 25:29), but by the Hasmonean period: 'Many in Israel took courage not to eat any unclean food, and they chose to die rather than be defiled by [unclean] foods . ..' (I Maccabees 1:62-63).Gentile food had become suspect of being connected to pagan ritual, so it was considered preferable to suffer martyrdom rather than eat it. 1The account of a controlled dietary trial in the book of Daniel thus reflects attitudes characteristic of this period (2nd-1st centuries BCE).