comedinearchaeology

[comedinearchaeology]

Ancient Greeks and their foods

Food in the ancient Greek times was very healthy and consisted of breads, vegetables, fruit, grains, wheat and barley. They grew olives, wheat, grapes and figs. They also kept animals such as goats for their milk, and to make cheese with. Bread, beans and olives were stables within their diets. When in season, they ate lots of fruit and vegetables, but they kept dried fruit for the winter months. As they did not have access to sugar in this period, they used honey as a natural sweetener.

Many of the Greeks lives near to the sea, so seafood such as fish, squid and shellfish were also important within their diets. They did not eat meat as much as they considered it to be wrong to kill domesticated animals, but sometimes animals were killed for sacrifices to the gods and some of the meat was consumed after. Mainly the rich had access to meats such as hares, deer and wild boar. They drank watered down wine as their main drink. They did not drink milk as it was considered a barbaric thing to do.

            The elite classes ate in the privacy of their own homes, whereas the poor and the slaves ate in public.

[comedinearchaeology]

Ancient Greek Recipe

Sea Bass with Feta topping

Serves 4

  Ingredients:

¼ cup unseasoned dry breadcrumbs

85g feta cheese

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon minced dill

Pinch of salt and pepper

4 sea bass fillets

  1. Preheat the oven to 190oC

2. Mix the breadcrumbs, feta cheese, oil and dill together in a bowl.

3. Sprinkle the salt and pepper onto the sea bass filets and place onto a lightly greased baking tray.

4. Press the breadcrumb mixture on top of each fillet

5. Bake, uncovered, until the fish is firm and cooked through, about 20 minutes.

Vegetable sides

  Prepare the carrots and boil until ready.

Prepare the asparagus by snapping it and then boil for 3-6 minutes. An easy tip to remove them all at once is to tie them up into a bunch together.

Serve all together once ready.

[comedinearchaeology]

Medieval Diet and Food

Food and diet in Medieval times very much depended on the wealth and class of the individual. For the wealthy, much more was available - they would have had access to a wider range of food. One of the main differences was protein source; the wealthy would have had access to meat such as chicken, goose, beef, lamb and if they were near the coast fish would have been on the menu as well. On the other hand, the lower class or peasants would have had a much simpler diet with their protein source being peas and beans added to bread and pottage, a thick soup.

A lot of what was consumed would have been what they could grow themselves. Most people had at least a small area to grow vegetables and some herbs which would be used in their own meals, so meals would consist of a lot of root vegetables as these would have grown easily.

Food was also thought to have a big impact on health.. as I attempted to explain in the video! I'll go in to more detail here:

It was thought that health was influenced by the four humours: blood, yellow bile, black bile and phlegm (shown in the picture). The idea of healthy living was that what you ate should keep these four humours in a balance, so there was no more of one than the others, as an imbalance would lead to illness. All food would have been categorised as hot, cold, moist or dry. So if someone was thought to have an excess of one of the humours, they would choose what to eat based on the properties of the food and which property was needed to restore balance to the body.

[comedinearchaeology]

Come Dine with the Ancestors Part 2- Roman and Medieval foods on the menu

[comedinearchaeology]

Come Dine with the Ancestors Part 1- When Ancient Greek and Neolithic cuisine is on the menu

[comedinearchaeology]

Medieval bread - "Cruste Rolle"

Essentially the Medieval equivalent of a tortilla chip, served as a pre-dinner snack or even a dessert after being coated in sugar.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

3 eggs

pinch of salt

pinch of saffron

oil (for frying)

Put the flour in a mixing bowl and make a well in the middle.

Beat the eggs, saffron and salt and pour mixture into the flour and mix. If the dough is too wet, add more flour. If it's too dry then add some water.

Separate the dough into roughly 2-inch in diameter pieces and roll out as thin as possible.

Fry in olive oil and serve hot.

Enjoy!

[comedinearchaeology]

Roman fast food, a serving table on the street from pompeii

[comedinearchaeology]

Four Archaeology students bring you the food of the past, Come Dine with Me style! This episode Roman and Medieval cuisine with Dave and Beth.

[comedinearchaeology]

Romans typically ate three meals a day: - (ientaculum) breakfast. - (prandium) lunch - (cena) Dinner

[comedinearchaeology]

Roman mosaic showing the variety of fish and food available in the empire

[comedinearchaeology]

[comedinearchaeology]

Honey mushrooms served with bread, just look at their happy faces...

[comedinearchaeology]

Honeyed mushrooms (serves iv)  

you will need

Honey

Mushrooms

salt

Oil

A pan

Red wine vinegar

i) put the pan with oil on a medium heat and add 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar until it starts to boil.

ii) chop the mushrooms into quarters and add them to the pan.

iii) As the mushrooms start to soften and brown cover with honey enough to taste.

iv) Leave on the heat unitl the honesy has become soft and runny and coated the mushrooms

V) Serve and enjoy

[comedinearchaeology]

Roman wall decoration showing a variety of fruits in the empire. Figs, grapes and dates can be seen amongst the lavish glass and pot containers.

[comedinearchaeology]

Pile of Amphora from Monte testaccio in Rome. Amphora was vital for the storage, transportation and production of productions such as wine and garum. However they were easily broken and could only be used once before being discarded onto heaps such as this.

[comedinearchaeology]

Neolithic Lamb Stew

Serves 4

Ingredients:

500g of diced lamb (or meat of your choice)

1 cup of pearl barley

2-3 tsp Chickpeas

1 onion

400ml meat stock

Leek finely cut

Cabbage finely cut

Spinach

(This recipe can be easily adapted to suit the vegetables and meat available at the time of cooking)

Place meat into a saucepan with the chopped onions and cook till the meat has browned. Put in handfuls of vegetables, the amount is your own preference, put in the pearl barley and chickpeas then pour in the stock. Place stew on the hob and bring to the boil, then turn the heat down to a simmer. Cook for an hour, or till when needed, keep an eye on it stirring every 15-20 minutes. Add more water and vegetables as needed. 

by Page

[comedinearchaeology]

Modern interpretation of Neolithic Bread- basis flatbread recipe

Makes 4-8 (Size dependent)

Ingredients:

250g strong brown flour

1tbsp rapeseed or olive oil

150ml warm water

Sift flour into a large bowl, make a well in the flour and add in the water and oil. Using your hands form the mixture into dough. Flour your work surface and then knead the dough for 5 minutes or till the dough feels elastic and smooth. Place in bowl, cover with a cloth, and leave it to rest for about 15 minutes or till you are ready to cook.  

Roll dough into a sausage shape on your work surface and cut into the number of servings you want (4-8). Add more flour to the work surface and using your hands work out/roll the dough to around 2-3mm thick.

Place frying pan/griddle over a high heat till it heats up then reduce the heat. Lay a flatbread/s into the pan and cook for about 1-2 minutes on both sides, or till see a nice browning and the bread has started to lift away from the pan.

by Page