Genesis 43:32

For him by himself. A separate table was prepared for him, for his brothers, and for the Egyptians who dined with him. He ate separately either because of his high position or because his Egyptian entourage would not eat with him, an Asiatic, for the same reason they would not eat with Joseph’s brothers. The ancient Egyptians were always particular in the matter of association with foreigners. They considered themselves to be the highest class of human beings. They called themselves “people,” whereas all others were more or less barbarians, creatures standing between them and the animal world. The aversion to foreigners revealed itself strikingly in the matter of eating. The Hebrews, for example, slaughtered and ate animals that were regarded by the Egyptians as sacred. According to the account of Herodotus (ii. 41), no Egyptian would use the knife, or fork, or saucepan of a Greek, nor would he eat of the flesh of a clean animal that had been cut up with a Grecian knife.