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Many
Egyptians had a
garden adjacent
to their house,
where they grew
vegetables and
fruit. Vegetables the "crop of the
year" - were
grown all year
round, irrigated
by hand and
formed an
important part of
their diet.
May the
king give
an offering
(to) Osiris, the great god, that he may
grant an invocation offering of bread,
beer, cattle, fowl, and every good and
pure thing, every kind of vegetable...
Stela of Ahmose, the coppersmith
Stela of Ahmose, the coppersmith
(Source: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)
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Vegetables
How basic vegetables were on the ordinary
Egyptian's menu can be seen in this complaint of
striking workers during the reign of Ramses III
We are starving hungry. Our tongue
wasted away in thirst. No cloth is left.
We are lacking oil. We have no fish, not
even vegetables.
Onions, which celibate priests were forbidden to
eat because of their aphrodisiacal effects, were a
staple food.
On the pyramid (of Cheops) it is
declared in Egyptian writing how much
was spent on radishes and onions and
leeks for the workmen, and if I rightly
remember that which the interpreter
said in reading to me this inscription, a
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Radishes,
choriander,
cabbages, endive [7],
cucumbers, watermelons, melons [13] and raphanus, a
wild radish tasting like turnip, were grown widely.
According to Athenaeus the Egyptians ate boiled
cabbage before all the rest of the food considering it
one of the most delicate vegetables. The tubercular
Arum colocasia, one of the plants loosely referred
to as lotus, was also relished [5]. Mallow was added
to soups [12].
The poor ate the roots of papyrus and other plants
gathered in the marshes. The lotos mentioned by
Herodotus with its round root was possibly the
White Lotus.
When the river has become full and
the plains have been flooded, there
grow in the water great numbers of
lilies, which the Egyptians call lotos;
these they cut with a sickle and dry in
the sun, and then they pound that which
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Fruit
Since the middle of the third
millennium BCE dates were
grown, though they were not of
high quality. The palmtree,
imposing when fully grown, was
also planted for shade
there is a large city
named Chemmis in the
Theban district near Neapolis, and in
this city there is a temple of Perseus
the son of Danae which is of a square
shape, and round it grow date-palms.
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Oil
Olive oil [1][8] was used for lighting, but one may
surmise it was used in the preparation of food as
well. Olive oil jars were labelled
[.... olive oil from the great] olive tree
plantation(?) of the House of the
Million [Years belonging to the king of
Upper and Lower Egypt ...... in the
temple of Amen lying on the banks(?)
of Ka : [...] jars.
Inscription on an olive oil jar fragment
Ostracon Qurna 619/5
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Seasonality
A small number of fruit and vegetables like garlic,
onions, carobs, dates, or nuts, kept for quite a while,
some could be preserved by drying, a technique
known to the ancient Egyptians, although the
frequency of its implementation with perishable
food stuffs is unknown. But most had to be
consumed when they were ripe or processed into a
product that would keep. Surplus produce could also
be marketed locally, but few vegetables could be
sent far afield without spoiling. Therefore, people
mostly had to make do with what they themselves or
their neighbours grew in their gardens, which
resulted in their choice being much more limited
than a list of fruit and vegetables known to have
been grown in Egypt [10] might suggest.
Summer
Autumn
Winter
Spring
figs
sycamore
figs
plums
water
melons
lettuce
colocynth
leeks
melons
tiger nuts
cucumbers
fenugreek
melons
sycamore figs
tiger nuts
cucumbers
fenugreek
dates
pomegranates
grapes
olives
cumin
ziziphus
carobs
carobs
lettuce
garlic
celery
radishes
lentils
black
cumin
coriander
peas
sycamore
figs
garlic
celery
radishes
lentils
black
cumin
coriander
peas
broad
beans
onions
chick pea
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Bibliography:
Joan Pilsbury Alcock Food in the Ancient World, 2006
Greenwood Press
Hames H. Breasted, Ancient Records of Egypt, Chicago 1906,
5 volumes
Herodotus, Euterpe
Ludwig Keimer, Sur quelques petits fruits en faence maille
datant du Moyen Empire, BIFAO 28 (1929)
M. Lichtheim Ancient Egyptian Literature, Volume One
Pliny, Natural History, (eds. John Bostock, H.T. Riley)
Strabo, Geography
Picture sources:
[ ] Stela of Ahmose, the coppersmith: Museum of Fine Arts,
Boston
[ ] Photos of date palm, olive tree and sycamore: Andr
Dollinger
Footnotes:
[3] This reference from the bible should not be considered a
contemporary historical source, but rather a reflection of the
traditional view the Hebrews had of their sojourns in Egypt.
Even if there is no direct historical evidence for this, the
assumption that the semi-nomadic Israelites reached the Nile
occasionally in their wanderings seems reasonable.
[4] Sycamore figs do not ripen properly unless a little fly enters
them. In the absence of these flies, notching the fruit a few days
before picking will cause it to ripen, a fact known since the
Middle Kingdom at least:
I found figs and grapes there, all sorts of fine
vegetables, sycamore figs, unnotched and
notched
The Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor
M. Lichtheim, p. 212
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[6] The Egyptian soil, enriched by the annual Nile flood, seems
to have rewarded the efforts of the leek growers with
outstanding results:
It is a remarkable fact, that, though the leek
stands in need of manure and a rich soil, it has
a particular aversion to water; and yet its
nature depends very much upon the natural
properties of the soil. The most esteemed leeks
are those grown in Egypt, and next to them
those of Ostia and Aricia
Pliny, Book XIX, 33
[7] Pliny gives a list of Egyptian edible plants, not all of which
have been identified:
the wild endive is known as "cichorium," the
cultivated kind being called "seris." This last
is smaller than the other, and the leaves of it
more full of veins.
Pliny, Book XX, 29
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[9]
A third oil is that made of the fruit of the cicus,
a tree which grows in Egypt in great
abundance; by some it is known as croton, by
others as sili, and by others, again, as wild
sesamon...Our people are in the habit of
calling it "ricinus," from the resemblance of
the seed to that insect. It is boiled in water, and
the oil that swims on the surface is then
skimmed off: but in Egypt, where it grows in a
greater abundance, the oil is extracted without
employing either fire or water for the purpose,
the seed being first sprinkled with salt, and
then subjected to pressure: eaten with food this
oil is repulsive, but it is very useful for burning
in lamps.
Pliny, Book XV, 7
Food
Index of Topics
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