Ancient Egyptian Food

What do we know about ancient Egyptian food? Quite a lot actually Their diet was quite balanced with fish, vegetables, bread and fruits readily available. Meat was mostly for the rich. Food import, mainly from the Middle East, was established, however it catered only for the wealthy.

Agriculture
The foundation for all early cultures is agriculture. The mighty Nile was the vein of Egypt and made it possible to grow crops like wheat and barley and also greens like peas, onions, garlic, scallions, lettuce, cucumbers and turnips. Dates, figs, grapes and water melon were fruits that were grown and native to the land. Among the wealthier commodities like olives, peaches and apples were consumed and believed to have been imported from the Middle East.

Wheat And Barley
These crops were used to make beer, bread and various gruels and and was a really important source of nutrition. Perhaps we wouldn´t recognize the beer since it was fresh and quite murky. Yeast is believed to be an invention of the ancient Egyptians, though it was probabaly not as effective as it became later making their bread tougher and less fluffy.

Meat And Fish
Meat largely came from livestock such as cows, sheep, goats and pigs. The chicken is believed to have been introduced to the Egyptians by the Greeks. The common Egyptian did not rely on meat for protein - beans, lentils, cheese, peas and fish were the big suppliers. If they would have eaten, it was probably pork or mutton. Fish from the river Nile was of course also important, many of ancient Egyptian food recipes had seafood as the main ingredient.

Spices And Seasoning
Honey was the general sweetener. Garlic and onions gave flavour to many foods. Spices that we know they used are dill, coriander seeds, fenugreek seeds, thyme and parsley. Salt was also used. Since most spices were quite expensive the general food was probably moderately seasoned.

Cooking And Food Preservation
With the exception of steaming and stir frying most food preparing methods involving fire was used. Salt was used to preserve meat, vegetables and fruits were dried.

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