Marcos 7:17

And when he was entered into the house from the multitude, his disciples asked of him the parable. And he saith unto them, Are ye so without understanding also? Perceive ye not, that whatsoever from without goeth into the man, it cannot defile him; because it goeth not into his heart, but into his belly, and goeth out into the draught? This he said, making all meats clean.

Parable ... as used here is a broad term meaning any dark saying.

It cannot defile ... Here, in the words of Jesus Christ, is an end to all diet restrictions. All such things as eating fish on certain days, or refraining from swine's flesh, or vegetarianism, as well as all kinds of religious fads regarding diet, lose all significance in the light of these words.

Making all meats clean ... Paul wrote that "Every creature of God is good (to eat), and nothing is to be rejected, if it be received with thanksgiving" (1 Timothy 3:4). This lifting of restrictions on diet was hard even for the apostles to accept; and long after Jesus said this, Peter affirmed that he had never eaten "anything that is common and unclean" (Acts 10:14). It may also be inferred from this that neither Jesus nor his apostles, during our Lord's public ministry, ever violated the true Old Testament laws regarding diet.

Furthermore, the vision which came to Peter (Acts 10:11-15) of all manner of four-footed beasts and creeping things with the injunction, "Rise, Peter: kill and eat," coming so significantly upon the occasion of God's sending Peter to the Gentile Cornelius, clearly indicates that clean and unclean meats were symbolic of the distinction that God made between Jews and Gentiles. This thesis is further supported by Jesus' extending his mercy to the daughter of the Syro-Phoenician woman immediately after his teaching on meats, and which Mark recorded in close connection with it. See under Mark 7:24ff.