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Food preparation would have been effortless and simple, just like in the Garden of Eden, if only Adam had not sinned. In the future, after the world is repaired, this will again be the case. Until then, as a result of the sin and the consequent deterioration of the natural world, many steps are involved in preparing food. By going through these steps, we mend ourselves and the world.
However, on Shabbat we minimize food preparation. Since Shabbat is supposed to be a preview of the World to Come, we should feel as if we are in the Garden of Eden before the sin. This allows us to understand the inner significance of our lives, so that during the week we will be able to repair the world until it returns to the state of Eden.
Of the 39 melakhot, eleven deal with extracting produce from the ground and making it edible. Three more have to do with meat production. Most of these melakhot take place in fields, orchards, barns, coops, and factories. Some of them take place in the home though. It is to these we will now turn.
