What Did The Ancient Egyptians Eat?

Here's a grocery list and recipes from ancient Egypt.

By Nikole LynnPublished 5 years ago • 4 min read

"Honey! Pick up some bread on your way home from work on the pyramid tonight!" is a phrase you might've heard 4,000 years ago along the banks of the Nile. In ancient Egypt, everyone ate well. However, if you had more wealth, you ate better. Here's a grocery list of foods from ancient Egypt.

Bread was the number one staple of ancient Egypt. To make bread, the ancient Egyptian’s harvested a grain called emmer, also known as farro. Round stone slabs called a saddle quern ground the grain, inadvertently causing sand to enter the dough. This sand eventually wore down the enamel of the Egyptian's teeth like fine-grain sandpaper resulting in decay and abscesses. Bakers made flatbreads and bread loaves in large ovens. Bread was a part of everyone's diet, from the farmers and monument laborers to Pharaoh himself.

Beer & Wine. Beer was nearly as important to the Egyptians as bread. They used the yeast from bread for brewing beer by combining the yeasty bread mush with water. Once fermented, this beer slurry was a thick, cloudy consistency that probably wouldn't taste great to our modern palate. However, it was very nutritious, contained protein, and was considered a meal. The ancient Egyptians used dates, palm, pomegranate, grapes, honey, and figs to make wine. Adding herbs gave the wine medicinal properties. Only royalty and the elite could consume wine as vineyards were a luxury for the upper-class. The wine was produced in different regions and sweetened with fruit and honey. There were red and white wine varieties.

Meat & Foul. One of the unique meats the ancient Egyptians ate was the hedgehog. Baked in a mud shell and then cracked open, the hedgehog's spikes came off quickly, making the meat easy to consume. Wild game like gazelle and antelope were popular, as were domesticated animals such as goats and sheep. Hippos were hunted for sport and also for their meat. Oxen were raised not only for rituals but also for hearty dishes. Chicken, duck, ostrich, geese, and ibis--a type of marsh bird, were also on the banquet tables of royalty and the wealthy. Servants, the poor, and other lower classes rarely ate meat. Their diet mainly consisted of bread, beer, fruits, and vegetables. Fish were considered sacred and therefore seldom consumed. When prepared, fish were usually dried, salted, and eaten by the lower classes.

Fun Fact: In 17th century Europe, people would eat powdered mummies because they believed they could cure disease. (source)

Fruits & Vegetables. The Nile’s receding waters give Egypt fertile soil to grow many different fruits such as watermelon, dates, pomegranate, and grapes. Among Tutankhamen's royal tomb items were pitted dates fit for the boy king. Figs and jujubes would line dinner tables on heaping platters. Garlic and onion flavored almost every savory recipe, and legumes were a dietary staple. Vegetables such as leeks, cucumbers, celery, lettuce, and radishes were plentiful. Hummus and a meal called “ful medames,” made from fava beans, are still prevalent in Egypt today.

Spices & Honey. Folded into bread dough and used in many dishes were coriander, fennel, juniper, cumin, and thyme. The ancient Egyptians used honey to sweeten cuisine and in rituals, medicine, and mummification. They associated bees with the sun god Re, and thus, bees were considered sacred.

“The god Re wept, and the tears from his eyes fell on the ground and turned into a bee. The bee made his honeycomb and busied himself with the flowers of every plant, and so wax was made and also honey out of the tears of Re.” -300 BC, The Beekeepers of Ancient Egypt

They also discovered that honey has fantastic antimicrobial properties that aid in wound healing. Embalmers used beeswax in mummification. Honey was an expensive commodity, and only the upper class enjoyed the versatile sweetener.

Fun Fact: Archaeologists recently discovered 2,000-year-old unspoiled honey sealed in clay pots in several tombs. (source)

If you could go back in time, what would you eat at an ancient Egyptian banquet? What about crispy roasted duck, honey glazed figs, or savory lentils and garlic? Luckily, several ancient recipes are still made in Egyptian kitchens today. A breakfast dish called "ful medames" is a fava bean recipe cooked with garlic and spices. Hummus and falafel are also ancient/modern Egyptian staples. Listed below are links to recipes that you can make today and eat like an ancient Egyptian king . . . or queen!

Resources:

Eat Like an Egyptian

What is Farro?

15 Ancient Egyptian Foods That’ll Make You Wish You Could Go Back In Time

Ancient Egyptian Cuisine

Ancient Wine

Wine Making in Ancient Egypt

Spices Used in Antiquity

The Science Behind Honey’s Eternal Shelf Life

The Beekeepers of Ancient Egypt