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isisinacrisis
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Joined: 17 Jan 2004
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Location: London, UK
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 Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 9:59 am Post subject: Ancient Egyptian food |
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I'd like to know what sort of food the Ancient Egyptians ate. I know they ate bread and dates, what other food did they have?
As for meat, I know they had beef, fowl and fish, but did they really eat more unusual meats, like hippos?
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Meresankh
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Joined: 19 May 2004
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 12:05 pm Post subject: |
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| I believe they were very fond of beer, and also onions and garlic were great favourites too! |
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Segereh
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Joined: 22 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 12:59 pm Post subject: |
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Fish was actually considered to be unpure. If you see swamp-scenes of people fishing, you'll notice that if they're noblemen, most of the times they're actually after the birds living between the papyrus and other bushes. Not really my interpretation of 'fishing'... Where this came from is yet unknown - it sounds like an Egyptian form of "kosjer" food - but there's a myth about Osiris, when he was chopped up by Seth and his remains got distributed over the entire Nile valley, that his royal parts were eaten by a fish, never to be retrieved by Isis. Accordingly she made one of mud to get pregnant by a shortly revived Osiris of their son Horus (the Younger).
Priests for sure weren't allowed to eat fish. For other people I don't know if this was merely a local custom or not though. There was one "goddess of fish" worshiped in Mendes (Delta): Hat-Mehit ("First of the Fish"). She was said to be married to Ba-neb-djedet ("The Ram Lord of Djedet (Mendes)") who was the one, really making Horus the rightful king over Egypt in saying the gods had to listen to Neith's advice on the case (when Seth and Horus were arguing about it). Neith followingly told them Horus would have to be king. Sometimes Hat-Mehit is even called mother to Har-pa-khered (Harpocrates, Horus the Child). But both stories (Ba-neb-djedet and Neith as "king-makers" and Hat-Mehit being mother to one of the most important gods of Egypt) are only local lore, told to make the local god(dess) "great".
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isisinacrisis
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Joined: 17 Jan 2004
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 4:53 pm Post subject: |
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Oh dear me, the bit about the fish goddess is taking me back to the old 'mother of Horus' dilemma thread  but anyways I always thought that Egyptian peasants ate fried/dried fish.
Is is true that the Egyptians invented garlic bread?
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Raia
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Joined: 01 Jun 2004
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 5:14 pm Post subject: |
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| When they would eat hippopatamus, sometimes it was like you could take what you could find inside of it if it was recently killed. I read examples of people sticking their hands inside the hippo and pulling out all sorts of stuff to eat.(where's that vomit emoticon...) |
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Segereh
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 5:20 pm Post subject: |
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Segereh
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 5:21 pm Post subject: |
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I'm here to serve... 
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isisinacrisis
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 5:23 pm Post subject: |
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That's what I read-about people walking into a dead hippo's insides and scoffing all the fat and being covered with blood...eeeeeeewwww!
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Segereh
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Joined: 22 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 5:25 pm Post subject: |
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| isisinacrisis wrote: | | people walking into a dead hippo's insides |
How big is a hippo? 
Sounds like u can make city-trips inside one...
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Segereh
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 5:28 pm Post subject: |
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| on http://www.touregypt.net/recipes they wrote: | Ancient Egyptian Food and Drink The Egyptians were very secure in that the Nile valley always yielded enough to feed the country, even when famine was present in other nearby parts of the world. The Egyptian's basic food and drink, bread and beer, were made from the main crops they grew, wheat and barely. There were many types of bread ,including pastries and cakes. Since there was no sugar, honey was used as a sweetener by the rich, and poor people used dates and fruit juices. Egyptians liked strong-tasting vegetables such as garlic and onions.
They thought these were good for the health. They also ate peas and beans ,lettuce, cucumbers, and leeks. Vegetables were often served with an oil and vinegar dressing. Figs, dates, pomegranates and grapes were the only fruits that could be grown in the hot climate. The rich could afford to make wine from their grapes.
Ordinary people ate fish and poultry. On special occasions they ate sheep, goat, or pig; but there was little grazing land available so meat was expensive and most people ate it only on festive occasions.
Egyptians stored their food in jars and granaries. Fish and meat had to be especially prepared for storage. One method was salting. Another was to hang up the fish in the sun, which baked them dry.
In ordinary families the cooking was done by the housewife, but larger households employed servants to work in the kitchen and a chef - usually a man - to do the cooking. The Egyptians had ovens, and knew how to boil roast, and fry food. There were few kitchen tools: pestles, mortars, and sieves. |
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Segereh
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Joined: 22 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 5:32 pm Post subject: |
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| on http://www.barrygray.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Egypt/Food.html they wrote: | | There were many different sorts of fish in the Nile, but rich people did not eat a lot of fish (except salted fish) if meat was available. Poor people ate more fish, and they also preserved it by drying it in the sun or salting it. Salted fish was a great delicacy with both rich and poor, and was also one of Ancient Egypt's main exports. They ate most sorts of fish except one species, which was sacred because it was associated with the god Osiris. We know the hieroglyphic name for this fish but have not yet been able to identify it. |
Wasn't completely wrong.
Wasn't completely right.
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Segereh
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Joined: 22 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 5:35 pm Post subject: |
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Here's a very good site as well:
http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/diet.htm
Have to say I haven't found any specific reference to garlic bread yet.
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Segereh
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Joined: 22 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 5:42 pm Post subject: |
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Garlic was certainly highly valued. Ramses III ordered garlic to be distributed in large quantities in the temples. The Old Testament says about the Israelites, accustomed to the Egyptian diet of bread, fish and vegetables, that they complained when wandering in the desert:
"We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick." (Numeri 11:5)
Shouldn't have run... 
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Segereh
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Joined: 22 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 8:27 pm Post subject: |
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Hope this helped? 
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isisinacrisis
Pharaoh
Joined: 17 Jan 2004
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Location: London, UK
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| Posted: Wed Aug 04, 2004 8:33 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks
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