Friday, November 19, 2010

Where is an area that needs improvement in my blog?

Where is an area of strength in my blog?

Would you rather be an Ancient Egyptian cook, or an Ancient Egyptian farmer? Explain your reasoning.

What would be your favorite food if you lived in ancient egypt? Why?

Homemade Pots and Pans

     Ever wonder what Ancient Egyptian's food was served in every night? Where they ate? Most of their cooking and eating utensils, pots, pans and plates were all made of clay in a kiln in their own homes. The women of Ancient Egypt cooked with pitchers, bowls, platters, mugs, pots, pans, jars, ladles and straw wisks. Along with cooking the meal, they were also required to wash all the dishes in the Nile after dinner was done. At my house, everyone does their own dishes every night! During the meal, the food made was all in a big bowl in the center for everyone to reach. They would take a piece of bread to scoop out whatever they wanted. The poor in Ancient Egypt ate dinner on rush mats at low tables. The rich however, reclined on couches and servants brought their food to them! Talk about royal teratment!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Expensive Taste

     As you know, the poor Ancient Egyptians could not afford meat. That's like the President and his family being the only ones lucky enough to afford a hamburger! Why was the meat and wine so pricey? Well, in order to raise animals you need to have a place for them to sleep, food to eat, and workers to clean up after them. I guess Ancient Egyptians had were picky eaters when it came to wine. They either had grapes grown and made into wine at their homes, or imported their wine from a far away place. Both of which obviously weren't cheap.

Spices Are Timeless

     Just like Americans are always complaining about the blandness of their gourmet restaurant food, Ancient Egyptians also jazzed up their food with all kinds of spices. Salt was used to preserve meat and to add flavor to Egyptian dishes. Mint, cumin, dill, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, sage, vinegar, and coriander were all spices used to season food, many are in your everyday diet at home! Honey was especially used to make foods and drinks more flavorful. Anise was used to make a licorice, not like the sweet, cherry candy we love, but close.  A spice everyone should have in their pantry was also used in Ancient times, cinnamon. Too bad there wasn't any sugar cane to whip up a batch of snicker doodles! Along with sugar, pepper was no where to be found in Ancient Egypt.

The Thinking Behind Ancient Egyptian Food

     Just like Ancient Egyptians had reasons to build the pyramids, there was also some logic behind what they ate each day. The amount of money a family had pretty much determined what was on the dinner table. Most of the Egyptians couldn't afford to eat meat. On rare occasions, the poor would've eaten goat or bird. Fish was very popular in the lower class, but found dirty and unclean to the rich and famous.
     All the bread everyone ate had to have come from somewhere, right? The large amount of grains depended on the  outcome of the wheat harvest. Since Ancient Egyptian women were completely responsible for gathering and preparing the food eaten by her family. How could they have time to get all her chores done in one day? A vegetable and fruit garden in her backyard, of course! Rich or poor, Ancient Egyptians had a sweet tooth. Honey, beer, wine, marshmallows and licorice were all foods Ancient Egyptians thoroughly enjoyed.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Ancient Egyptian and Current American Meals Maybe Not So Different After All...

     Have you ever wondered what food Egyptians made and ate in ancient times? The meals vary according to the wealth of families, but you may find many similarities and differences between your dinner last night and an ordinary meal in Ancient Egypt. If you were an Ancient Egyptian, you would expect to eat lots of fruits, vegetables, eggs, fish, milk, beer, bread and if you were lucky, meat. Sound familiar? A lot of the same foods are in my refrigerator at home. Even though Ancient Egyptians called these foods by the same name doesn't mean they were prepared or tasted anything alike. Beer was most definitely not made exactly like the beer and bread we can buy at Hy-Vee. The beer consisted of baked barley, and bread mashed up with water. Then left alone for a few days, then strained and cooled in large, semi porous earthenware jugs. As you probably already know, not all the food Ancient Egyptians ate are everyday food in America. A big difference between diets was the bird meat eaten at meals without hesitation. If a goose was sitting on our dinner table at home, I wouldn't dare touch it!