Edda Bresciani
Enough food for everyone was a guarantee of social order for an “ethical” state such as that controlled by the pharaoh. The maxim “He whose belly is empty is the one who complains,” which we find in the Maxims of Ptahhotpe, a sage who lived toward the middle of the third millennium, should be understood in this sense. In accordance with the beliefs that developed in the earliest epochs of Egyptian history concerning life after death, prayers for the dead requested that they be given bread and beer, birds and beef. Moreover, tombs were supplied with victuals, and the dead were always portrayed sitting before a richly laden table with written lists (the so-called panchart) containing thousands of varieties of each foodstuff.
The discovery at Saqqara, at the funeral well of the tomb of a Second Dynasty woman (c. 3700 B.C.E.), of a number of plates bearing assorted foods has provided a valuable source of information on eating preferences and food preparation during that early period. The meal for the dead included, among other things, a kind of cereal-based porridge, small barley rolls, cheese, a cooked and decapitated fish, and two cooked kidneys, probably from sheep. Since we do not possess the equivalent of Apicius’ De re coquinaria for ancient Egypt, funeral meals of this type are a primary source of information.
A great deal of information can be derived from the menu of a dinner prepared for a Nineteenth Dynasty pharaoh and his extensive retinue during an official visit (the text is part of Papyrus Anastasi IV). This was clearly more than just a meal for the happy few, since the baskets were counted by the hundreds and the food items by the thousands. Nevertheless, the document reveals the preferences, exotic tastes, and range of foodstuffs available during the Ramesside period. The menu includes 10,000 biscuits (ibescet), 1,200 Asiatic loaves, 100 baskets of dried meat, 300 cuts of meat (deghit), 250 handfuls of beef offal, 10 plucked geese, 40 cooked ducks, 70 sheep, 12 kinds of fish, fat quails, summer pigeons, 60 measures of milk, 90 measures of cream, 30 jars of carob seeds with carob pulp, 100 heads of lettuce, 50 bunches of ordinary grapes and 1,000 bunches of oasis grapes, 300 strings of figs, 50 jars of honeycomb, 50 jars of cucumbers, and 50 small baskets of leek bulbs, equivalent to 120 handfuls. There are also oils: local oils (sesame oil, sweet ben-nut oil) and imported oils (Cyprus oil, oil from the country of the Hittites, nekefeter oil from Babylon, oils from Amor, Syria, and Naharina) for charioteers. The list comes to an end with beverages: Syrian beer, Palestinian wine, and paur for the servants.
Cereals and Bread
Although there is still no agreement regarding the first cereals to be cultivated in ancient Egypt, barley, along with wheat and spelt, have been found in prehistoric delta settlements dating back to around 4000 B.C.E. The plains that were periodically flooded by the Nile produced cereals in abundance for both domestic use and exportation. Wheat and barley, used for making bread and beer, were staples, while spelt bread was eaten primarily by the poor. Egyptian households adopted very basic techniques for making flour: the grain was first crushed in a stone mortar and then ground between a stone and an angled stone slab; the roughly ground flour was then sieved. To obtain finer flour, the grain was lightly toasted or dried in the sun before being ground (millstones were not used in Egypt until Greco-Roman times). As a result of this technique, bread always contained stone dust, the probable cause of the worn-down teeth that have been found in most Egyptian mummies.
Bread was made by adding water and a pinch of salt to the flour, then kneading the dough by hand or, in large quantities, with the feet in a large container. The flat loaves were then cooked on a stone slab placed directly on the fire or on a shelf in an open oven. Alternatively, the loaves were simply stuck to the oven’s inner walls.
Sourdough was used to produce leavened bread. From approximately 1500 B.C.E. on, however, it is possible that bakers also used genuine yeast, such as saccaromycetes, extracted in liquid form during the brewing of beer, work that was typically associated with bread-baking.
The loaves could be round, semicircular, oval, triangular, or conical; loaves intended for temple offerings were baked inside conical clay molds and were sometimes covered with cumin seeds. Wheat cakes in human or animal form were prepared for magical and liturgical rituals. For everyday purposes, however, the names, shapes, and ingredients of cereal products changed as a result of time, tastes, and fashions.
Beer
Beer-brewing methods in ancient Egypt are reasonably well known, thanks to the wall paintings of private tombs and models of breweries. The beer that was produced was strong and identical to buza, still brewed in the same way in Sudan and parts of Egypt. In certain working-class areas in Cairo, for example, small loaves of barley or wheat, undercooked in order to preserve the fermenting enzymes contained in the grains, are put into a mixture of water and crushed wheat and left in the heat. The dense liquid is then filtered and left to settle in terracotta jars.
Egyptian texts speak of sweet beer, red beer—the most common—and black beer, which must have been the most alcoholic. All we know of “Syrian beer,” presumably imported or brewed using non-Egyptian methods, is that its name is mentioned in some texts.
The Vegetable Garden, the Orchard, and the Vineyard
All Egyptian vegetable gardens produced onions, leeks, and garlic. Egyptian lettuce grew to a considerable size and, because of its shape, was considered a suitable offering for Min, the god of agriculture and fertility. Melons (including watermelons) and cucumbers grew along the fertile banks of the Nile. Legumes—lupines, chickpeas, broad beans, and lentils—were always part of an ancient Egyptian’s daily diet, although peas were introduced only during the New Kingdom.
Egyptians also ate the sweet bulb of the lotus, which they boiled or roasted. If we are to believe Theophrastus (Hist. pl. IV.8.11), they used it to produce the delicious dish known as korsion. The papyrus rhizome, rich with oils and sugars, was good both raw and cooked (Hist. pl. IV.2; Herodotus, II.92; Diodorus, I.80), as was the fruit of the mandrake, yellow with green sepals and tasting of pear. The skin of the mandrake fruit contains a high concentration of narcotic toxins, which also produce hallucinations. This may explain its fame as an aphrodisiac as well as the symbolic and erotic significance attributed to it by ancient Egyptians.
Fruit, both wild and cultivated, played a large part in the Egyptian diet. Egyptians ate the fruit of the sycamore, the splendid tree dedicated to the cult of the goddess Hathor, figs (cultivated even prior to the Old Kingdom), and persea fruit (Mimusops laurifolia), which was yellow and had an apple flavor and was eaten fresh or dried and ground into flour. They also enjoyed “desert dates” (the fruit of the sweet-fruit tree), cherry-flavored jujubes, dates, and a type of palm coconut (dum). Carob pods, with their high sugar content, were used in Egyptian medicine as a vermifuge and digestive. Contacts with neighboring countries, especially in Asia, which became increasingly close from the Eighteenth Dynasty on, introduced new trees to the Egyptian orchard. These included the apple, pomegranate, and olive. Citrus fruits, however, did not exist in Egypt until after the Greco-Roman period.
Grapevines, which already grew in Egypt in the predynastic period, were found throughout the delta, in the Fayum and the western oases (Khargah, Dakhlah, Bahriyah, Farafra). Grown on trellises and arbors, they produced white and black grapes, most of which were used for wine. After the harvest, the grapes were trodden in large vats and the must was then poured into terracotta amphorae, rendered less porous by an internal coat of resin, and sealed with clay. Each amphora bore a “label” indicating the vineyard and the vintage. Egyptians also made date wine, fig wine, which was highly alcoholic, and pomegranate wine (possibly the drink known as sciadeh). Wine was also imported from Syria.
Meat and Dairy Products
Animal protein in the Egyptian diet was provided by dairy products, meat, and fish. The milk obtained from breeding and meat animals (cows, sheep, and goats) was made into butter and cheese, remains of which have been found in cylindrical jars in the First Dynasty tombs of Abydos. It is not at all clear whether Egyptians were aware that alum could be used to curdle milk.
The blood of cattle whose throats had been slit for sacrificial purposes was collected to make a kind of blood sausage. Offal was highly prized, especially the spleen and liver, and beef fat was used as a condiment. Fillets and loin chops were roasted or grilled, while less prestigious cuts were boiled. Meat could also be drycured.
There is no doubt that pork played a large part in the ancient Egyptian diet or that pigs were raised in large numbers in the villages. The taboo regarding pork had no effect on everyday eating habits, but was probably restricted to ritual offerings since, in Egyptian mythology, pigs were identified with Seth, the god who killed his brother Osiris.
Both wild and reared fowl—geese, ducks, quails, pigeons, and pelicans—were frequently served at Egyptian tables at every social level. Chickens, however, were not introduced until the late Roman period. Geese and pigeons were roasted. Geese, plucked and ready to be cooked, could also be preserved in fat (and possibly in salt) in large containers, as could ducks. Eggs also played a part in the Egyptian diet.
Fish
Teeming with fish, the Nile was generous to rich and poor alike. In tomb decorations from the Old Kingdom on, fishing scenes were often depicted. They reveal the great variety of fish that were caught: mullet, tilapia, catfish, carp, barbi, and eels. Fish was not restricted to the poor; it was also eaten at court, and the lakes and ponds of villas were supplied with fish for noblemen to catch with lines. Dried saltfish was part of a soldier’s rations. Roe from the mullet, a periodic visitor to the canals of the Nile, was also extracted during the drying process of the fish, to be pressed into large flat cakes and preserved.
It has been noted that fish does not figure on the lists of funerary offerings (pancharts) and only rarely appears among the food left on offering tables. This is probably owing to a kind of taboo connected to its odor.
Honey, Condiments, and Spices
Honey was collected primarily in the delta, whose vast stretches of fertile land offered an ideal environment for bees and bee-keeping. Honey came in two varieties—dark and light—and was preserved in jars with wax-sealed tops.
It is not known for certain whether vinegar was known and used. Kitchen salt, however, came in at least two forms: the so-called northern salt and red salt.
There is no doubt that certain aromatic plants were used in cooking, while the use of others can be assumed from their presence in ancient medicinal recipes: juniper, aniseed, coriander (appreciated by Apicius, III.4.3; X.1.7–8), cumin (Pliny, HN XIX.47.161, mentions Theban cumin and distinguishes it from the Ethiopian variety), fennel, curry-flavored fenugreek (found at the predynastic site of Ma’adi), and poppy seeds. Pepper, on the other hand, was imported from India from the first two centuries A.D. on.
Goose, pork, and beef fat were used for frying and as a condiment. More commonly, oils of various kinds were used: bak oil (made from ben-nuts), sesame oil, linseed oil, and castor oil. Olive oil was harder to find. Lists of food deliveries (Papyrus Turin B) mention imported oils: 300 measures of Keftiu oil (from Syria and the Aegean coast) as well as oil from the land of Shasu (Syria-Palestine).
The Dining Room and the Kitchen; Kitchen Slaves
Egyptian ate at least three meals a day: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They did not use cutlery but ate with their hands. The way in which they sat at table changed over time, at least for the upper classes. During the Old Kingdom, they reclined on rush mats or cushions in front of low tables set for two, on which bread, roasted meat, and fruit were placed, while glasses were placed close by on the floor. As time passed, the upper classes preferred to sit on chairs at normal tables, where they were served. At the end of the meal their servants poured water over their hands. Banquets were enlivened by displays of dancing and music. Wine and beer jars were decorated with garlands, while the guests wore crowns of flowers and offered one another lotus buds to smell.
Simple, mostly cylindrical terracotta ovens could be found in the inner courtyard of all Egyptian houses, even the most modest. Food was cooked in back courtyards on low fires under rush mats or sometimes, as in certain dwellings in El Amarna, on roof terraces. In larger houses, it was possible to find a whole room devoted to cooking, as in the house known as “the house of the three ovens” from the period of Thutmose IV, discovered in Gurna by a University of Pisa expedition. This room had a canun, a cooking range with three fires and a surface for pans, as well as a place to put the water jar (a hole carved out of the rock floor with a drainage channel). Clay jars with openings near the base, used to store legumes, cereals, spices, and condiments, stood on the floor.
Cooking methods for meat, fowl, and fish have already been mentioned; they included roasting, spit roasting, grilling, and boiling in pots. Sweet dough for cakes was sometimes fried, as clearly shown in a picture of frying with the explicit caption “Put in the fat and cook the cake.” Peasants, who toiled all day in the fields, would roast geese on the spot and drink water from leather flasks left hanging in the shade of trees to keep cool.
Cooking activities required pots and pans to put on the fire. These were made not only of earthenware but also of copper and, later, bronze. The same metals were used to make knives, although stone knives continued be adopted for some purposes. Spoons and ladles, sometimes perforated, were made from wood and metal. Sieves, mortars, and pestles were also used.
Tables were laid with plates, bowls, goblets (earthenware, glazed porcelain, or even gold and silver if the diners were kings or courtiers), and trays of wood, metal, or simply woven vegetable fibers. Small metal strainers were used when pouring wine or beer into the goblets. When extracting the wine or beer from the amphorae, siphons were used to avoid moving the lees.
In places like palaces, large villas, and temples, the organization of kitchens, larders, storerooms, and staff was complex and hierarchical. The Leiden Papyrus 348 (10.4–5), for example, contains a list mentioning brewers, bakers, butchers, pastry chefs, confectioners, bakers specializing in shat bread, and wine-tasters, as well as someone who held the position of “house manager for beef fat.”
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