why the manna

Parshat B'Shalah

This week's question at the shabbos table:

Why did Hashem have to give them the manna? Why not do something more nature based? We know Hashem always prefers to minimize the miracle aspect of what He does and tries to do things as "naturally" as possible, so why not regarding the manna? Hashem could have told them to start of by eating from the many animals they had with them, He coul dhave sent them kosher desert animals, we know they did not actually travel that much but stayed in some locations for long periods of time, so Hashem could have told them to plant crops and harvest and make bread and other food.

Why did He have to do it the tremendously miraculous way He did?

The answer given by all was basically to teach Bnei Yisrael a lesson of emunah so when they would go into Eretz Yisrael and have to "get back to normal" they would realize that even their human efforts are fueled by Hashem and they are successful or failures because of Hashem