Widely considered the cradle of civilization in the West, Mesopotamia, a geographically defined region rather than a culturally homogenous one, comprised a diverse collection of peoples and kingdoms. These included Sumer and the Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian empires. From the beginning of written history (c. 5000 B.C.), the indigenous Sumerians and Akkadians (including Assyrians and Babylonians) dominated Mesopotamia. Comprising the eastern part of the Fertile Crescent, Mesopotamia saw the arrival of agriculture around 5000 B.C. With the development of irrigation, the food supply in Mesopotamia became quite rich. Let's delve into the culinary practices of this ancient land.
Staple Foods of Mesopotamia
The Mesopotamian diet largely consisted of crops farmed on the flood plains. These included barley, onions, grapes, turnips, and apples. Barley was the chief crop. Thus, barley and the bread baked from its flour became the staff of life. The bread was coarse, flat, and unleavened, but a more expensive bread could be baked from finer flour.
Grains such as barley and wheat, legumes including lentils and chickpeas, beans, onions, garlic, leeks, melons, eggplants, turnips, lettuce, cucumbers, apples, grapes, plums, figs, pears, dates, pomegranates, apricots, pistachios, and a variety of herbs and spices were all grown and eaten by Mesopotamians.
Date palms were also a very important food source to the Mesopotamians. These palms grew in the south by the river marshes and supplied fibers, fodder, wood, and rich food. Rich in sugar and iron, dates were easily preserved, giving them an advantage in an era of primitive dentistry.
The Significance of Beer
Mesopotamians were also some of the first people to make beer. About the same time as the birth of agriculture, people began domesticating animals. Beer was a major component of Mesopotamian cooking and feasting. Beer was the staple beverage of Mesopotamia due to the large grain supply. It would have been "watered" down or brewed weaker than the modern stuff as it was utilized for every day consumption rather than recreational use as it is now a-days.
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Meat and Protein Sources
Meat was eaten rarely and reserved for the rich and feast days. More common was mutton. Fish was a much more common source of protein. Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets reveal over 50 varieties of fish that were a popular addition to the diet. People also raised sheep, pigs, cattle, ducks, and pigeons. They made cheeses and cultured dairy products from milk.
Feasting and Royal Banquets
Historical records provide glimpses into the elaborate banquets held by Mesopotamian rulers. In 879 B.C.E., the Assyrian king Assurnasirapli II boasted of a gigantic banquet for 69,574 guests. The supplies for this banquet give an idea of the requirements of the Assyrian gourmet: 1,000 oxen, 1,000 calves, 14,000 sheep, 1,000 lambs, 500 deers, 500 gazelles, 1,000 large birds, 500 geese, 500 cranes, 1,000 mesukku-birds, 1,000 qaribu-birds, 10,000 pigeons, 10,000 turtle doves, 10,000 smaller birds, 10,000 fish, 10,000 akbiru (a small rodent), 10,000 eggs, 10,000 containers of beer, 10,000 goatskins of wine, 10,000 jars of a hot condiment, 1,000 boxes of fresh vegetables, and large quantities of honey, pistachios, roasted grain, pomegranates, dates, cheeses, olives, and all kinds of spices.
Mesopotamian Recipes and Culinary Techniques
Food historians trace the earliest written recipes to the second millennium BC. The earliest known recipes date from Mesopotamia in the second millennium BCE. Ancient cuneiform text provides insight into Mesopotamian cuisine.
Most "recipes" from cuneiform tablets give rough quantities and ingredients but very little instructions as to HOW. Preparation of these meals was complex, calling in different recipes for operations like mixing, sprinkling, slicing, squeezing, pounding, steeping, shredding, crumbling, straining, and marinating. Heat for cooking was provided primarily by an oven, although grilled and roasted meat were also common. Bread and pastry were baked in the oven and pots were placed over the oven's opening to bring liquids to the boil.
Examples of Mesopotamian Dishes
Recently, a French archeologist deciphered cracked clay Akkadian cuneiform tablets dating from 1900 B.C. Jean Bottero, the French Assyriologist, in decoding the tablets discovered the world’s first recipes in Mesopotamian cuisine: spicy meat stews, duck and vegetable stews, braised turnips, and baked pigeon pies.
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Sasqu is a cream porridge described in the palace records at Mari. It includes barley flour, milk or water, salt, and date syrup.
Records from Ur identify cakes 'for the palace' as containing 1 sila of butter, 1/3 sila of white cheese, 3 sila of first-quality dates, and 1/3 sila of raisins.
The Mesopotamians, for example, prepared a fermented sauce, which they called siqqu, from fish, shellfish, and grasshoppers for both kitchen and table use.
Food Preservation Techniques
Ancient Egyptians employed a variety of methods for food preservation including drying and salting. Dried saltfish was part of a soldier's rations.
Table Manners and Dining Customs
Normally dishes were placed in the center of the table, and each person sitting around dipped bread or a spoon into it. Banquets in the New Kingdom were more elaborate, with family and guests enjoying the meal. The tomb scenes show the guests being greeted by their hosts and servants coming forward to offer garlands of flowers. Servants would bring the food to the guests and offer them napkins to wipe their mouths.
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The Onion's Prominent Role
Gardens in fertile Mesopotamia flourished, and onions and leeks and garlic were amongst the most frequently cultivated plants. The cornerstone of the Mesopotamian diet appears to have been the onion far - including leeks, shallots, and garlic.
Other Ancient Diets: Egypt
Egyptian civilization probably began about 3100 B.C., following a predynastic period from 5500 B.C. in and around the Nile. Agricultural communities grew grains as well as legumes, and these became the major crops of the Nile valley. Two main staples of Egyptian life were bread and beer.
Elite Egyptians ate three daily meals: morning, evening, and night. In Egypt banquets started in the early or middle afternoon, but few details are available about the eating of ordinary meals. A full meal was found in a Saqqara tomb of the Second Dynasty that had been laid out for an unnamed noble, all accompanied by jars that had once contained wine and beer.
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