Food in ancient Egypt
Food in ancient Pharaonic Egypt | The most famous foods and what was on the dining table of the Pharaohs and ancient Egyptian kings, what fruits, drinks and sweets were eaten by the Pharaoh, and more historical facts of the civilization of ancient Egypt .
Facts and history of ancient Egyptian food in the Pharaonic civilization , secrets discovered about cooking methods, food utensils, Pharaonic dishes, the gods of wine and food customs of the Pharaohs, what Pharaoh ate, the names of Pharaonic foods, the god of food in ancient Egypt and among the ancient Egyptians, and what were the means of preserving food in the era. Pharaonic and more.
Food in ancient Egypt
Kitchen in ancient Egypt - ancient Egyptian cuisine :
The ancient Egyptians used to eat in ancient Egypt three times a day. One of these meals had to be a family meal and include all family members.
In fact, the ancient Egyptians or Pharaohs ate on small tables that included meat and birds, along with various types of vegetables and fruits. They also included their daily meals, which consisted of three main meals, at least one of which must be a family meal.
The Egyptian bread that they made from anwar was a must-have on any type of dining table.
?How did the ancient Egyptians make bread
Bread was the basis of Egyptian cuisine and was made from grains. The flour is mixed with yeast, salt, spices, and milk, and butter and eggs are sometimes added to it, then the mixture is mixed and kneaded with the hands in large dishes, then it is made like fried discs in a frying pan and placed in the form of molds of various shapes, or it is formed manually in the form of circular or long, sometimes hollow rolls and filled with beans or vegetables. As for flat bread, it has edges and contains eggs, or it is also sweetened with honey, dates, and sometimes fruit.
?What is the favorite food of the Pharaohs
Bread : Its types were (khamrit, maltot, gergoush, kasra, and kawaikawi), and some types of this bread are still found in Upper Egypt.
Meat : such as meat (bulls, geese, chicken, fish, goats)
Vegetables : such as (onions, garlic, radishes, lettuce, cucumbers, leeks)
Grains : such as (wheat, barley, lentils, sesame)
Derivatives : such as (sesame and castor oil, dried grapes, dates and figs, milk derivatives with cheese and butter)
Pharaohs fruit
Figs, sycamore, buckthorn, grapes, pomegranate, watermelon, plum
?What did the Pharaohs drink
In ancient Egypt, alcohol was limited to beer and wine, and it was made in the homes of the common people, and there were specialized factories for it, as we will mention in detail. Among the Pharaohs, beer in particular was more widespread than wine due to the lack of vines and the abundance of barley in Egypt. The cemeteries were also a place for making wine and beer, as they prepared tables for offerings to the gods. Men and women alike drank alcohol, and there were those who drank to excess and were exposed to many troubles, as in this painting:
?What is the favorite drink of the Pharaohs
Beer, wine, carob, doum, anise, fenugreek.
The colors of Egyptian wines were generally dark, some red or white. Wine preparation was carried out during the grape harvest season before the end of summer. Fermentation operations took place in tightly sealed jars. Wine was bottled in semi-conical pottery jars or in inflated amphoras. 0
Wine was present on daily tables as part of food and drink, in public and religious ceremonies, and on funeral occasions. The Egyptians were fond of drinking wine, and the best types of it were (Al-Maryouti) and (Al-Tayouti). Palm wine was used in mummification operations to wash the abdominal cavity of the corpse. Mukhtal wine was also used, which is (Egyptian plum), and perhaps pomegranate and fig wine.
Sugary drinks
They are drinks that are free of alcohol and not distilled. They were mainly used as food and drinks to accompany dining tables and parties. The most famous of them, in Egypt, is the honeycomb that accompanied honey. It was mentioned in many papyri as a funeral offering and as a medicinal substance.
“The consumption of the honeycomb is seen in a scene from the Middle Kingdom era, which is now in the Berlin Museum in Germany . The jars of the honeycomb are depicted and their names are mentioned in the tomb of Vizier Khamre from the Eighteenth Dynasty in Thebes. A scene of bran can be seen in the Babassa tomb among the tombs of Deir al-Medina in Thebes from the Sawi era. In the Ptolemaic era , there were royal apiaries and private apiaries. Two small pottery jars were examined and found in the tomb of Tutankhamun, within the tombs of the Valley of the Kings , which belonged to King Tutankhamun, the most famous king of the Pharaohs. They date back to the era of the Eighteenth Dynasty, and each of them was written in hieratic script. One of the languages of the ancient Egyptian language .
Perhaps the Egyptians, at times, preserved the bodies of their dead in the shahd. Grape juice was also made in Egypt.
In ancient Egypt, food was served on small tables, and the main meal was followed by fruits or sweets such as honey pies and jams. Banquets had their origins in their sayings. Among Ptahhotep’s advice is : “If you are invited to the table of someone greater than you, take what he may give you when it is placed before you. Look only at what is in front of you and do not look at him too many times because forcing him to turn to you is something that the soul hates.”
Legumes were the usual popular food, the most important of which was gul (harati), which was cooked in different ways and made into soup or bisara. This food was offered to the ancient Egyptian gods and the priests took it as a gas suppressant. After beans come lentils, which were the daily food for the builders of the Giza Pyramids , then beans. The Egyptians did not know rice or tomatoes.
“We often see sweets made from flour and meat (i.e. beef, goat meat, lamb, pork, goose, and pigeon) on dining tables in ancient Egypt, and the scenes often include images representing butchers and birds.
However, we must not forget that Egypt is a hot country and that meat cannot be stored for a long time. If a bull is slaughtered, its meat must be consumed quickly, and only a rich and diverse society can obtain such a luxury. Meat was for food during the Pharaonic holidays , as This is the case today on official holidays in Egypt , and was not seen in today's meals.
?Food of the gods in ancient Egypt
Offerings to Egyptian gods :
The most famous offerings from the funerary temples are what was mentioned in the Harris Papyrus 500 of the gifts of King Ramses III from the Egyptian Twentieth Dynasty in the era of the New Kingdom in ancient Egypt to the temples of the gods, which included: soft bread, pies, beer, fruit, honeycomb, dates, rectangular white bread, lard, dried dates, raisins, milk, and oil. Peeled beans, butter, goats, geese and calves.
During the era of a thousand curses, the ancient Egyptians used to present their foods to appear as boats to their Pharaonic gods, and they buried them with their dead.
Among the most famous offerings that were made to bury the dead were soft bread, a number of pies that were made in the shape of animals, cows, and beer.
And various types of fruits, such as honeydew and dates, and in ancient times, many and varied types of foods were found in the tombs of the Pharaohs, which they had mistakenly believed that the dead would actually need in his death and afterlife.
Among them were some pieces of beef, grains, bread, previously cooked fish, and others.
Varieties of royal Pharaonic food
In fact, the Pharaohs and ancient Egyptians used many types, especially the following types, of various forms and types of food and drinks:
As they used different types of bread, such as pita, semit, and khamriat, some of which are still known and found in Upper Egypt.
They ate different types of meat, such as bull meat, goose meat, chicken meat, fish, and goat meat.
They eat many different types of vegetables, such as onions, garlic, and green vegetables such as radishes and lettuce. They also eat cucumbers and celery.
They loved all kinds of grains, such as wheat and barley, and they also ate a lot of lentils and sesame.
And different and diverse types of popular fruits, such as figs, sycamores, buckthorn, grapes, and also other fruits, such as pomegranates, watermelon, and the delicious plum fruit.
Among the most important drinks the Pharaohs made were beer and wine.
The most famous dishes during the era of the Pharaohs
The Pharaonic dishes that were widespread even among the poor were bread and beer, along with some fruits of onions, garlic, lentils, leeks, radishes, lettuce, and cucumbers. As for the fruits, they were figs and sycamores. The main food in ancient Egypt was bread, and the most common meat was bird meat and fish.
The vegetables that the Egyptian farmer ate almost daily were: lettuce, arugula, radish, cabbage, cauliflower, green onions, dill, parsley, and coriander, which are healthy vegetables. As for garlic, workers and builders ate it daily.
During the planting seasons in ancient Egypt, the Egyptians planted palm trees, and they called the palm tree (Amt), which is used today as one of the names of the dates of date palms, which is (Mothers). The Egyptians knew honey, and Egypt was the oldest country that knew beekeeping.
The Egyptian Pharaohs ate their food with their hands while sitting around a tray placed on a small pedestal table, and they washed their hands before and after eating.
There were a number of dishes widespread during the era of the Pharaohs, and they were even widespread among the masses of the poor and the chosen. It is bread and also the well-known beer grain so far, along with some fruits, including onions, garlic, and even lentils and leeks. They included vegetables such as radishes, lettuce, and cucumbers in their day.
On the other side, the tables of the rich were filled with roasted bull meat, geese, jars of beer, proportions of wine, various types of fruit, and different types of bread, to which butter and eggs were added.
There were different types of sweets, as we used to find visible in the drawings of the era of King Akhenaten of the Eighteenth Egyptian Dynasty .
Kitchen and dining utensils in ancient Egypt
The kitchen was usually located at the end of the house and was roofed with straw and branches and had something to allow smoke to escape. It may have been located within the courtyard of the house, adjacent to or below the food storage room. The Egyptian kitchen is simple and contains a clay or stone oven with the necessary ancient Egyptian dining utensils.
Food tools in ancient Egypt are the mortar, grinder (millstone), dough basin, and cooking utensils. The pottery oven was a terrace containing its tools or a portable cylindrical oven. The oven was perhaps primitive and consisted of a few stones that resembled a pot in which the fire was placed and cooking utensils were placed on it. Small tools include baskets, sieves, utensils, spoons, and knives.
Cooking and cooking methods in ancient Egypt
Barbecue :
Fish and birds were cooked by inserting a stick into their mouths to pierce their tanks, opening their insides and placing them over the fire. The fire would glow more brightly by moving air over it. As for the meat, it is in the form of slices.
Boiling :
Where birds, fish or meat are placed in boiling water and the fats are collected in it.
Drying :
All types of meat are dried after grilling or lightly boiling, then placed in the sun and preserved for a long time after salting and seasoning.
?Who is the god of wine and wine among the Pharaohs
Osiris : Grapes resemble Osiris because they do not have roots, and Osiris was the one who taught grape growing and wine making. It is symbolized by a grape branch.
Hathor : He is the god of the most famous Egyptian region, according to the geography of ancient Egypt. He produces wine in the Delta , which is Kom al-Hisn in the lake.
Ranutt : She and her son (Nabiri) used to take care of the grape harvesting and mashing seasons, and would provide her with the first fruits of the grapes.
Thoth : He was called the Master of Wine and the Master of Dregs.
Seshmo : The god of the wine press who brings the heads of enemies and presses the grapes with them to produce wine that flows like blood (Seshmo represents the blood of enemies), which is a symbol of victory over enemies and the elimination of evil spirits.
Pharaonic royal food What was on the dining table of the Pharaohs in ancient Egypt, and what sweets, drinks, vegetables did the ancient Egyptians eat and more.
Pharaonic food is the food that was eaten by ancient Egyptians and the kings of Egypt in the days of the Pharaohs, and which is the same food that is still eaten today.
In fact, the floods of the Nile River that the country experienced in ancient times were what made those archaeological and non-archaeological agricultural areas surrounding it one of the most fertile agricultural lands known in ancient times to the Egyptians, and thus it was through them that a number of agricultural food crops could be produced. Miscellaneous.
Whereas, in addition to the presence of all these vegetables and fruits of different or varied colors, the ancient Egyptians had known and used many other crops, such as honey, dates, and raisins, and filled grains of all kinds, meat, and both types of birds and fish.
Ancient Egyptian food, drink and the afterlife:
The ancient Egyptian used to sacrifice (the god's meal offering) to his god, such as bread, cakes, and wine offerings, and they were served in vessels (nu, deshert) and also included meat, such as the leg of a bull, deer, and others. The worshiper takes it as loot to the temple and offers it there. The sacrificial table was also served to the deceased in Egyptian tombs , and then this was dispensed with by drawing food on the wall of the tomb. The deceased will not be depicted eating, but rather breathing the fragrance of the lotus flower .
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Sources of Food in Ancient Egypt: The Book of Egyptian Civilization by Khazal Al-Majidi