Ancient Egyptian Food
Ancient Egyptian Food /Ancient Egyptian Meals
Many carvings and images can be found on temple and tomb walls showing ancient Egyptian food from Egypt’s old kingdom and Egypt’s new kingdom. Most depictions were in the afternoon, men and women were separated in the images unless they were married. The seating positions varied according to social status with those in the higher status sitting on chairs while the middle class sat on stools and the lowest class sat on the raw floor. Before the food was passed basins were provided with perfume cones
Ancient Egyptian Food to spread pleasant smells.
The dishes consisted of stews served with great amounts of bread, fresh vegetables, and fruit, and for dessert, there were cakes baked with dates and flavored with honey.
Cooking in Ancient Egypt
Food was made by stewing, boiling, baking, grilling, frying, or roasting. Many spices and herbs were added for flavor, only to be found on the table of the wealthy as it’s an expensive import. The Egyptians were able to preserve their food like meat by salting and dated & raisins dried for long-term storage. The primary source of sweetener in ancient Egyptian food was honey which highly expensive as it was collected from the wild or from domestic bees kept in pottery hives. Oils used in cooking after being made from lettuce, safflower, bean, sesame, balanitis, and olive are also animal fat used for cooking as well, and they are all stored in jars.
Ancient Egyptian Food /Ancient Egypt Bread
The staple of ancient Egyptian cuisine was the bread eaten by both the rich and the poor. consumed on a daily basis and made from wheat or barley. Making bread a strenuous task the grains were first grounded into the floor by women through a grinding mill to form flour. The sand is added into the grinder to speed up the process which means.
the bread has sand in it that causes many dental problems like tooth decay as evident in the teeth of various mummies. When mixing the flour with water and yeast, the dough would be formed that then placed in a clay mold before being cooked in a stone oven. There is fine dessert bread and cakes from high-grade flour. The bread came in different sizes and shapes like human figures, fish, and many animals; they were also seasoned with coriander seeds and dates.
Drinks in Ancient Egypt
beer was the most common drink in ancient Egypt, is the cornerstone of ancient Egyptian beverages called “Beer Bread” which was an important part of the Egyptian diet and even used as a currency. Most of the ancient Egyptians did not drink water directly from the Nile as they observed that people got sick after it so they drank beer instead.
The Ancient Egyptians made beer by half cooking barley then soaking it in water and leaving it to set, it’s a highly nutritious food containing high protein, minerals, and vitamins. It’s the same thickness as a milkshake and contained a low level of alcoholic content. The ancient Egyptians also made white and red wine from grapes which combined with spices and honey. They made many non-alcoholic drinks from fruits like dates.
Fruits and Vegetables in Ancient Egyptian Food
Despite the fact that the Nile is not the main source of hydration, it’s the main reason for the land’s fertile nature, and the variety of ancient Egyptian food due to its annual flooding allowed the plantation of various crops of fruits and vegetables. The most common vegetables are green onions and garlic which are used for medical purposes plus leek, cucumber, lentils, lettuce, celery, beans, peas, lentils, radish, and turnip plus papyrus which is used to create paper eaten raw, boiled, and even roasted. The most common fruit was Dates but they also consumed fruits like figs, grapes, melons, apples, and pomegranates.
Meat in Ancient Egypt
In ancient Egypt, fish was the main source of protein, they were often dried or salted to preserve them for a long period of time. There were also other sources of protein like chickens that were available for everyone, plus there were goose, duck, lamb, pigeon, and quail. The beef was expensive, available once or twice for the royalty. Everything in Egypt feels like heaven, so don’t miss the chance to explore the beauty and wonder of this holy country by a magical Nile cruise to the great cities of Cairo, Luxor, and Aswan.