Food in Pharaonic Egypt

By: Ali Abu-Dashish

CAIRO, Dec. 10 (SEE)- Egyptians are like no other when it comes to fondness, creation and preservation of food habits through years. Food culture in Egypt is a unique mix of the past and present; food traditions, types and habits are long-standing just like the age-old civilization. 

Actually, modern food habits are of the most treasured customs that passed on from 7000-year-old pharaonic Egypt despite the new globalized generations. 

Archaeologist Dr. Hussein Abdel-Bassir said that food was one vitality that pharaohs were keen to place with the macabre furniture inside tombs. “This is apparent in the screens and drawings on the walls of their tombs and temples.”

Ancient Egyptians used to offer sacrifices and placed them in upper compartments when they visited cemeteries. “The offerings were inscribed on walls and actual immolations were unearthed inside burial chambers. Once resurrected, the dead will feed on buried food in the hereafter as pharaohs believed in resurrection and immortality.”  

This is one custom of taking traditional foods like cakes, dates, guavas and pies is currently reckoned when visiting graveyards of loved ones.  Offerings included; bread, pies, beer, fruits, honey, dates, raisins, milk, goose and calfs. 

“Inside the burial chamber of one of the priests in Sakkara, a goose-shaped pot was found with bones inside it. Screens on the walls resembled tables of offerings that depicted; 16 types of bread, 6 kinds of wine, 4 types of beer and 11 types of birds,” noted Bassir.

Furthermore, many leftovers of various kinds of foods, including a pot of wine with a high alcoholic percentage inside the tomb of the golden king Tutankhamen. Inside graves many foods were found; meat, seeds, bread, fish, soup, fruits, buckthorn, pies, honey and wine.

One antique speciality ‘Booza’ is still processed in Luxor and various cities in Egypt. It is made of flour, sugar and water; residents of upper Egypt serve it at breakfast to expel salts and energize their kidneys. 

Bread and beer were widely spread in pharaonic Egypt along onions, garlic, lentils, lettuce, cucumber and radish. Interestingly bread types reached 42 kinds including; ‘Maltut’ ‘Gargosh’ ‘T’ ‘Sunbread’ ‘Bataw’ that is kneaded until now in upper Egypt.

A variety of fruits were eaten included; figs, sycamore, buckthorn, grapes, pomegranate, watermelon and plums. They also cooked stews and soups. 

Dates were found in huge quantities inside graves; they were widely consumed and saved Egypt from famine at times of droughts and shortage of resources. 

Nobels’ tables were feasts of bulls, geese, beer, fruits, wine and bread. Lettuce was the veggie of kings and sages and was the symbol of ‘Meen’, god of fertility. All families used to gather at mealtimes; milk, beer and wine were amongst their beverages. 

Moreover, fish were also a stable and the main source was the Nile besides sluiceway and others. Nile fish includes; tilapia, eels, carp and perch. Egyptians are keen to eat pickled fish made of mullets that is consumed in high quantities in spring festivals known as Easter up till now.

Legumes were also important, beans were eaten since pharaonic era. A domestic plate called ‘Bisara’ of pharaonic origins is a mix of legumes.

In the cold days of winter, lentils were served as meals for all the builders of the pyramids; workers, technicians and others, their diet also involved onions. Chickpeas were eaten both salted and green, known locally as ‘Malana’ and Garlic was served along radish.