Ancient Egypt's Food!

Introduction

So what is something I am a huge advocate of? It’s not exercise that’s for sure. It’s food! Food brings people together and helps keep us energy efficient. Without food we would die, literally. However food isn’t all black and white. If you travel to different parts of the world the major foods they eat will be vastly different from what we eat. So it’s always good to explore the varieties of foods the world has to offer. So let’s explore one of my favorite civilization’s diet and maybe learn an ancient recipe! Hold your applause till the end please.

Ancient Egyptian Diet

Many would suspect that due to their location Ancient Egyptians would have a lack of food. I mean a desert isn’t the best place to live. Personally I hate hot and dry weather. However, the Nile River’s fertile banks provides great agriculture for the Egyptians. So one obvious thing they had a lot of was fish. They lived next to a major river so fishing was a big thing for them. Since it was so difficult to raise livestock and cattle in the desert, fish was the only meat Egyptian’s really ate. The majority of the food they ate was bread and they always enjoyed a nice loaf with beer. The fertile soil of the river allowed Egyptians to have a lot of wheat and this wheat was made into a variety of foods such as cakes, bread and beer. It was a time staking task to use wheat since they had to grind it by hand and also cook it in an archaic oven. A lot of the breads and cakes they made were sweetened with honey. The Egyptians did it right and ate a lot of vegetables. Their mothers must be so proud. A few of the vegetables that were in their diet were peas, beans, onions, lettuce and cabbage. Figs and dates were extremely popular for Egyptians. So was grapes and wine.

Depending on what social status you were the food you ate would vary. Only the rich could afford certain luxury foods while the poor stuck to whatever they can get their hands on. It’s just how it a worked in a socially ranked society like Ancient Egyptians.

Here is a handy dandy recipe for pita bread!

Egyptian Pita Bread

(Makes 8 pieces of bread)
3 cups of warm water
25 g of fresh yeast
500 g of flour
1/2 tsp of salt
Preheat the oven to 450. In a big bowl mix the yeast with the warm water. Bled in the 400 g of flour that is mixed with salt. Knead it until the dough is nice and smooth. Add flour until it doesn't stick to the bowl. Cover in cloth and put in warm place. When the dough has doubled in size which will take around 40 minutes, knead it firmly on a floured surface for a couple of minutes. Cut it into 8 pieces and flatten them. Bake in the middle of the oven for 8-10 minutes. A bubble of air will rise in the middle of the bread. Then wait till its cool and enjoy!

If you like to learn more click on these links

http://www.ancient-egypt-online.com/ancient-egyptian-food.html

http://www.ehow.com/about_5460494_food-recipes-ancient-egypt.html

http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/egypt/food/egyptfood.htm