Ancient Egyptians Food.

1 Aprile 2014

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  1. Sylvhia
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    Ancient Egyptians Food.


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    The nutrition information of the ancient Egyptians come mainly from funerary objects found in the tombs, although we must bear in mind that only the rich and wealthy people, as well as the pharaohs and court dignitaries , had the opportunity to be buried in graves as those found and that in addition to the rich there were ordinary people who did not enjoy the same privileges both in life and after death.
    The ancient Egyptians believed in life after death, and therefore, they thought that the deceased was in need of food and drink and everything he or she needs to live in the afterlife. This explains why in the tombs, along with furniture and ornaments have been found everyday objects such as clothing, footwear, makeup, hair and jars full of various kinds of food and drinks. Some of them have arrived down to us intact.

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    Anticipating, however, that food would soon be spoiled and therefore unusable, some stele with the magic formula of supply of food from the funeral of the deceased and relatives, figurines representing servants in the act of preparing and serving the food and tables offering various foods, were also placed in the tombs. On walls, scenes of everyday life reproduced in more detail have the task to magically reproduce the earthly life of the deceased.

    Bread and Beer


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    Bread and beer were the basic food of the ancient Egyptians.
    The cultivation of cereals was one of the most important activities of the Egyptian people, since the pre-dynastic, as it is known, it was favored by the annual flooding of the Nile River, that left large amounts of fertile silt that allowed to make two crops per year .

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    Plowing and sowing took place when the water of the Nile had retreated after the flood, and the harvest was done with sickles wooden short-handled knife and formed, up to the Middle Kingdom, from flint serrated; so the spike were beaten for separate the grains from the chaff. Once cleaned, cereal grains were stowed in barns in the form of silos, under the watchful eyes of the scribes who carefully recorded the number of bags in barns.

    The cereals cultivated in the Nile valley were essentially three: the spelt (Triticum dicoccum), a type of wheat (Triticum aestivum probably) and barley (Hordeum sativum vulgare). The beans were ground by the women in the houses and the powder obtained was used to make various types of bread, the yeast was not known and they used parts of the previous day dough. The cooking tooks place in domestic ovens, or even red-hot stone slabs; for particular types of bread, for religious uses and especially for offering in the temples of white bread conical, were used preheated clay forms.

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    Loaves of barley were used mainly in the manufacture of beer. Taken from the oven before completely cooked, they were soaked in dates liqueur and left to ferment, then they were pressed and filtered through a sieve: the drink obtained consisted of a very non-alcoholic beer that was stored in jars carefully stoppered. The addition of other ingredients could vary the flavor and alcohol content of the beer, other alcoholic beverages more or less were also obtained from the fermentation of different fruits or berries.

    Wine and Olive oil


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    The cultivation of grapes, both as a fruit or to make wine , is attested since the Dynastic Epoch, although as beverage it never had distribution and the importance that had beer instead . The scenes that appear on the walls of the tombs show us that the vines were usually in the form of a pergola and the crushing of the grapes after harvest was performed with the feet in large basins , just as it is made up almost to the present day . The residues were then squeezed further by crushing sack presses :at the end of the sack there were two sticks that were squeezed by turning in the opposite direction the twisting and squeezing , letting out the remaining liquid. The resulting juice was poured into jars and left to ferment , then the jars were capped , on their shoulder was usually applied with an inscription indicating the year and the place of production of the wine. From the New Kingdom onwards is attested sometimes the presence of a small hole on the neck of the amphora , probably to allow the escape of the last fermentation gas after closing the container .

    As for beer, wine could be enriched with some ingredients to vary flavor and alcohol content, and we know also from written documents that the wine produced in the Nile Delta and in some oases was particularly appreciated.

    The cultivation of the olive tree was introduced into Egypt from the east only in the New Kingdom, and even after the olive oil was not among the most used in the kitchen. The oils most commonly used for seasoning and fry were sesame oil, linseed oil, and especially the oil from the nut bak stretch of moringa; papyri attest that many special oils were imported from foreign countries, not only for food, but also for medical and cosmetic. Other seasonings for the kitchen were salt and some herbs, such as juniper, anise, coriander, cumin, parsley and fennel, pepper was not known and was imported to Egypt only in the Roman Era.

    Fruits and Vegetables



    Vegetable gardens, orchards and gardens were very popular in ancient Egypt, even if small, in the houses of the peasants or in the great mansions of the wealthy dignitaries. In orchards were planted watermelons, melons, figs, date palms, and only after they have been imported in the New Kingdom, apples and pomegranates: similar to olive, in fact, several products arrived on the tables of the Egyptians as a result of business contacts, particularly flourishing at the beginning of the Eighteenth Dynasty, with the countries of the eastern Mediterranean. Wild fruits such as jujube, similar to cherries, and nuts palm dum were collected and appreciated . It is also believed that the fruit of the mandrake had aphrodisiac erotic and symbolic significance, perhaps because of the concentration of toxins in its peel, which has hallucinogenic narcotic effects in those who eat it


    In vegetable gardens abounded numerous varieties of vegetables, including onions, leeks, garlic, celery, cucumbers and especially chickpeas, beans and lentils, which were item of the ancient Egyptians daily food; peas appeared only in the New Kingdom. Lettuce was particularly cultivated,and it reached large clumps, perhaps for this reason the lettuce was sacred to the god Min, protector of fertility. Boiled or roasted were also enjoyed some types of tubers and rhizomes.

    Meat and Fish


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    Hunting and fishing were among the most popular activities in ancient Egypt since prehistoric times and have always provided of course meat and fish for Egyptians . In historical times the hunt, at least for the large animals ,remained as sports-type activities for the rich nobles, who often dedicated themselves to hunting in the desert or along the Nile hares , lions , gazelles , hippos, and so away. It remained , however, always very practiced bird hunting , not just as fun to wealthy people , but especially to fill , along with fish , soup kitchens of families of the lower classes : they were mainly pigeons, ducks , geese , cranes and various types of waterfowl. The birds were captured using a net stretched over a body of water between two poles : pulling a rope from the shore , the poles are overturned by closing the network and all the birds that had settled unaware . On shore birds were immediately killed, plucked, cleaned the innards and put salt in large jars to be preserved .

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    The scenes painted or embossed on the tombs walls , which were to recreate the production of food for the afterlife of the deceased, show usthat certain types of birds were also raised: ducks, geese and cranes appear locked in pens with attendants who introduce a strength in the nose a kind of mash cooked on braziers, to fatten the birds; the most common way to cook roast them on the fire was impaled on skewers. While the eggs, even ostrich, were present on the Egyptian table, the chicken appears only in the Roman Period.


    The breeding for food was practiced in ancient Egypt, especially for cattle, also used for farm work, and for sheep and goats. Oxen, especially of a particular race that provided abundant meat and fat, were slaughtered and the blood was used to produce a kind of pudding, while the liver, very much appreciated, could also be used to flavor cakes; fat was used for cooking. The Egyptians preferred more roasted meat than boiled meat, with which they could also be prepared succulent pate.

    Other animals raised for food were rabbits and pigs, but the flesh of the latter was excluded from the funerary offerings and those dedicated to the gods in the temples; it is also attested, in the Old Kingdom, the breeding of wild species, such as hyenas and gazelles.

    Fishing is also the subject of numerous scenes on the walls of tombs: fish was the most common food for those who could not afford meat every day, even if it also appears on the tables of the rich, and it was very easy to obtain , as Nile was very fishy. Fishing techniques were different, but the most commonly used was the one with the trawl, which consisted of a boat crossing the river towing a network and back to the starting point of closing it and imprisoning the various fish. The fishing line, with or without a cane, was considered mostly a fun for the wealthy dignitaries, who practiced in ponds of the gardens of their mansions.

    On the shore, like birds, fish were opened and cleaned of entrails and hang out to dry and then placed under salt into large storage jars.Fresh fish was cooked, usually roasted or boiled. From the eggs of mullet also a kind of mullet was obtained : eggs extracted during the cleaning of the fish were salted and then rolled into balls and pressed. In addition to the mullet, Nile was full of eels, carp, tilapia and catfish; fish never appear on the tables offering funeral , the real reason for this exclusion is unknown. You have to remember also that in Egyptian religion numerous gods were worshiped in the guise of animals, which therefore could not be the considered as food in the localities seat of their worship.

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    Fonte:
    www.beniculturali.it/mibac/multimed...oli/egitto.html


    *Attention please* - - "This translation (and / or content) is made by Sylvhia exclusively for "I Nove Mondi Forum". In case of partial or full release is mandatory to link to the original source and the required credits".



    Edited by Sylvhia - 28/6/2014, 15:20
     
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0 replies since 1/4/2014, 17:26   109 views
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