Anna Selby - Food Through the Ages

L ETS go right back to the beginning in so far as we know it. The staples of the ancient Egyptian diet were bread and beer mortuary offerings often bear the inscription bread, beer and all good things. And, for the poor, there was probably not much more than that, just some vegetables and fish from the Nile, either dried, boiled, fried or roasted, or occasional game in the shape of quails, ducks and cranes. The rich, on the other hand, shunned fish and ate game in the form of various kinds of antelope and the meat from domesticated animals, such as beef, pork, goose, mutton and duck instead, though even the rich probably didnt eat them as often as we do today they were too expensive a commodity to raise in such an arid land. The rich also drank wine besides the ubiquitous beer.

Pomegranates, enjoyed since Ancient times, were believed to give wisdom.

As well as having a greater choice in meat, the diet for the rich was a surprisingly varied and sophisticated one. It featured olive oil and figs and food was flavoured with herbs and spices such as cumin, coriander and cinnamon, thyme, dill and fennel. Under the warm Egyptian sun, fruit and vegetables were grown and eaten widely, especially onions, garlic and green vegetables. They were generally recognised in ancient Egypt as health giving foods (as, of course, has been established scientifically today) though through later millennia they were to be eschewed by all but the poorest. Local grapes, watermelon, figs, pomegranates and dates were eaten by rich and poor alike, while olives, peaches and cherries were imported. One of the most widely used foods was honey, and not just as a sweetener. It was highly regarded for its medicinal properties (honey being a powerful antiseptic) and beeswax was used as an essential part of the process of mummification.

Everyone, both rich and poor, ate bread every day and the ancient Egyptians produced a prodigious amount of grain along the banks of the Nile. It was the rivers annual flooding that gave Egypt its fertile soil and made it one of the earliest civilisations with a highly developed form of agriculture. Besides bread, the grain harvest was used to make pastries and cakes, flavoured with honey, fruits, sesame and nuts. Flat bread was sometimes baked with eggs poured into hollows and, of course, some of the cereal went to make the barley beer. The production of the flour was, literally, a daily grind. The process meant pounding, grinding and milling, all of which were done by hand while the cook sat on the ground out of doors, where a good many unwanted ingredients inevitably found their way into the flour. Egyptian cooking took place out of doors, too, over open wood fires or in clay ovens, reducing the risk of fire. And, although the cooking methods were basic, ancient tombs show plenty of fine storage jars and bowls. Rich Egyptians ate off bronze, silver and even gold, while the poor had to make do with clay.

Nuts provided a staple part of the diet in Ancient civilisation.