What did people eat in ancient times?
How was their nutrition?

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Hello everybody;

After I have done my tour,finally I got my computer and write.I picked this topic because my guests were foody people,just like me,and I thought this is an interesting topic.Well…when you Google you can find thousands of writings and essays about ancient people’s eating habits.But many of them are very long and complicated.This is not only fort his topic but also for any other.For that reason I am writing , just like speaking to you and keeping it simple and understandable.Enjoy it!

Today,modern people look for the most organic foods to develop immune system and to stay healthy especially during pandemic.Just a hundred fifty years ago,people were not worry about organic foods because almost everything were organic and probably they didn’t know the term of ‘organic’.

What about ancient people’s nutrition?What were eating and how many times in a day?Were they eating like us?How was their taste?

Let’s take a look.

First of all,we have a lot of documents and inscriptions that give information about ancient people culinary.We see ancient painted plates and pots that are also a source of information about their nutrition.

I will divide the topic in two parts as ancient Greeks and Romans nutrition.

Ancient Greeks ; First of all,meat was the most popular food for ancient Greeks especially during celebrations.They ate cow,sheep,goat and wild boar.Before they started to eat,they had been burning meat loins wrapped with fats and introduced to their gods.They were first eating giblets of the animal.After they made meats on skewers they put some salt and flaur.

Geese,deers,rabbits and fieldfares were also very popular meat products.

But meat were not easily accessible food for all.So many of them probably looking forward to celebrations and festivals to eat meat.

Other than animal products,they were also eating honey,cheese,olives,onions,beetroots,pomegranates,apples,pears,figs and grapes.

Fish were not popular at first but especially after 5th c BCE canned fish became very important trade products at the cities around Sea of Marmara and Blacksea region. As they trade with other nations,they learned how to use spices when cooking fishes.They eat sea bass,sea bream,shark,sea turtles.They used corianders,cumins,basils,thyme and fennels not only for fishes but also for meats.

 

They were making their bread from barley first , that changed into wheat later.

Cabbage,spinach,chard,hibiscus,leek,bean,lentil were their main meal,as well.

They used olive oils for cooking that has been a culture for thousand of years.

The culinary culture of ancient Greeks of mainland(Athens) and Anatolia(Todays Turkey) were very different.While ancient Greeks of Athens’ were very simple,Anatolian Greeks culinary was very rich.

Of course…Wine must be on the table.They love to drink wines when eating.But it was a bit different than today.After they stepped grapes and get molasses they put it in wine bottles called pithos(V shaped potteries) and they put pinecones or herbs to lids of pithos to give a taste to wine.In every 36 days,they open pithos and check wine.They take foam out.Sometimes they add some more molasses to get alcohol level up.

They had 2 types of wine ; white and black wine(today we can call it red wine).They also made white wine,more sweeter,like honey and smeelling like apple.

They were adding ½ water when drinking.

They were eating 3 times in a day but lunch was like a snack.Dinner was main and big.Men were lie down when eating,women not.Actually women were eating first to serve men.

 

Ancient Roman’s culinary was more sophisticated than Greeks.As their land getting larger,they contacted with many different civilizations and they import and export different types of foods.Other than vegatables and legumes; onion,leek,cucumber and zuccihini were planted almost at garden of each house.They liked several fruits such as;figs,apples,quinces and plums.

They liked meats just like Greeks but they like vegetables more than meat products and they eat goats,wild boars and rams.

Cheeses were more special for them than any other milk products.Some Roman cities,(Vestinia,Trebula,Luni) were very famous for cheese and archaelogists discovered cheese production places at some of houses.They regarded butter as a barbarian’s food,fort hat reason they used olive oils for cooking.

They loved to eat pigs liver so much that they were feeding pigs at fig gardens to get liver bigger.

Romans were looking down on producing grains and they were importing from Egypt,Northern Africa and Spain.

Artichokes were a upper class food that only rich people could eat.

They loved fishes so much and there were fish farms at some seaside residences.They were eating any kind of fishes.

They used many different types of herbs ; laurel,basil,lavender,parsley,cumin and tyhme…

They were making many different souces for meats or fishes.One of the common souce was like this ; crush some blackpeppers and coriander seeds and add walnuts,raisins,fennel and parsley.Mix it with wine or molasses.They cook meats or fish in this souce or they add to food after cooked.

Just like Greeks,they also like wines.But at the point of producing different wines,they were much more better than Greeks.We know that 80 different wines were sold at Roman markets and 75% of them local.Unlike Greeks,they were using a kind of press machines to obtain wines.

They had different drinks other than wines; one of them called ‘mulsum’ it is sour wine mixed with honey.

 

Here is some recipes that I pick for you. Please do not try at home 😃😃

From Ancient Greeks ;

* Put some goat cheese in red wine,add some honey and flour.Cook it in low fire until it gets pulp.

* After cleaning mackarel,put the “silphionu”(a souce mentioned above) and cover it with cheese,salt and oregano(a herb).

 

 

From Ancient Romans ;

* Mix and crush 4-5 fresh garlics,celery leafs,rue(common rue, a herb) and coriander with dried cheese and salt.Knead it until it becomes neither all green nor white, must be a pinky color.And put some olive oil and vinegar. Why not?

* Get legs of baby pig out and fill it with giblets,sausages,seedless dates,onions,snails without shells,chards,beets,leeks,celeries,boiled cabbage,coriander,black peppers,pine nuts,15 eggs.Then put the whole pig body on fire.Dress it with a souce. Bon appetite ! 😶

* Here is my favorite ! Take seeds of dates out and fill it with walnuts,pine nuts and put some black peppers and salt.Boil it in honey.(Personal experience suggestion;put some water to honey) I tried and liked it!

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