Dinner Time!

[Brennus]

Hello again everyone, once again a big thank you to everyone who contributed to the "SPQR? Who?" thread. I would now like to suggest a discussion which is a bit easier to answer.

If you were living in anqtiquity what would you eat and drink during the day?

For the sake of argument I would like you to assume you have unlimted funds BUT you are limited by geography. For example if you are living in the heart of the Sweboz lands you might enjoy your fill of herrings, game birds or maybe even an auroch but your chances of flavouring your milk with saffron are going to be very slim.

Personally I know very little about what was on people's menus during this period so I look forward to learning something .

Tuck in!

[Cute Wolf]

If I lived in Sweboz land... maybe I'll have enough fun hunting wild boars, but all I need for a complete set of Sweboz dinner is:

- some fresh vegetables with boiled eggs
- a big chunk of Roasted boar with honey...
- a dish of whale steak
- a soup made of cheesy cream with goat intestines
- and don't forget, a big tube of beers....

[Apázlinemjó]

What I really miss from the antiquity's menu is the potato... How could they live without potato!?

[Macilrille]

Did they have a choice? What things will people in the future say that they cannot understand that you can live without?

Anyway, here is a Roman dinner.

Sorry guys for having gone silent on you. I channel much of my resources into EBII, so I can by necessity not say much here.

[Brennus]

Well all that protein at the Roman table would certainly give you the muscle needed to serve in the legions but i think all that fish would ultimatley result in you spending alot of time in the latrines. I don't think I could stomach garum sauce, I would certainly like to try it at least once, but i think it would make your stomach turn.

Personally I would miss chillie peppers the most, love habanero sauce and scotch bonnets on my food.

Nice idea of having your boar with honey, Cute Wolf.

[Ibrahim]

Hello again everyone, once again a big thank you to everyone who contributed to the "SPQR? Who?" thread. I would now like to suggest a discussion which is a bit easier to answer.

If you were living in anqtiquity what would you eat and drink during the day?

For the sake of argument I would like you to assume you have unlimted funds BUT you are limited by geography. For example if you are living in the heart of the Sweboz lands you might enjoy your fill of herrings, game birds or maybe even an auroch but your chances of flavouring your milk with saffron are going to be very slim.

Personally I know very little about what was on people's menus during this period so I look forward to learning something .

Tuck in!

I'll stick to either the fertile cresent or Arabia: dates, barley, wheat, milk, and perhaps beef and mutton.

[stratigos vasilios]

I'm fair certian if I were in Sweboz lands, I'd be tanked 90% of the day...

[antisocialmunky]

In Sweboz lands?

People.

[Macilrille]

Let us not either villainize or romatisize the Sweboz.

1. Most Sweboz ate gruel and bread, but with a bit of meat/heavy diet as they had much cattle.

2. AFAIK, the only evidence we have of cannibalism in Iron Age N Europe is from a holy Cltic Site where ritual cannibalism was practised.

[Megas Methuselah]

What I really miss from the antiquity's menu is the potato... How could they live without potato!?

Hahaha, that's funny.

[plutoboyz]

should it in Sweboz land?

[HunGeneral]

Well I don't know for sure what I would be eating in anqtiquity.

If we take it from geopgraphyical view then I would say: possibly the same as the inhabitants of the Carpathian-basin ate at the time.

If I would end up among some Nomads west of the ural then probeably it would be dairy products, horse milk, cheese, and mostly meat from wild game or horses - although I quess that would be the dinner of a noble. An avarege person would have alot less to eat and famine as such was never far away...

Oh yeah and about the beer: don't forget that beer we know today is not much like what the germanic tribes as such drank in thoose days. We would probeably find it less enjoyeable.

[AntonineWall]

What I really miss from the antiquity's menu is the potato... How could they live without potato!?

Or the tomato. Or the chilli or a nice cigar for after dinner.

Unless of course you are an ancient meso-american in which case you are larging it with nachos with guacamole and spicy wedges followed by a fine Monte Christo.

[Andronikos]

I would really miss rice in Europe. Otherwise I don't know, my knowledge about everyday life in antiquity is limited. Oh, I certainly wouldn't be fan of vomitoria, it is disgusting.

But I have two questions about food in antiquity:
1. if you have read Flaubert's Salambo, there is a description of Carthaginian feast in the beginning, how is it accurate?
2. one friend told me, that Hannibal suffered from some gastrointestinal disorder and he could eat only porridge, is it true?

[Brennus]

Oh, I certainly wouldn't be fan of vomitoria, it is disgusting.

From what I understand vomitoria didn't actually exist, instead a vomitoria is part of a modern day opera house.

Oh yeah and about the beer: don't forget that beer we know today is not much like what the germanic tribes as such drank in thoose days. We would probeably find it less enjoyeable.

That's true it didn't have hopps in it. I have tried a recreation of Neolithic beer and I must confess it takes some getting used to, it is noticeabley sweeter, weaker and has a great amount of filings in it compared to modern beer.... plus it makes you very windy.

[Cute Wolf]

That's true it didn't have hopps in it. I have tried a recreation of Neolithic beer and I must confess it takes some getting used to, it is noticeabley sweeter, weaker and has a great amount of filings in it compared to modern beer.... plus it makes you very windy.

Yeah, that was my type.... sweeet, no hops.... and more funny content inside! Once you try non-Hop beer, that was sweet and really darn good!

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

I think Ibrahim and Plutoboyz can't enjoy this...

[Brennus]

Wine back then would also have had alot of grit in it. Take for example the Vix krater, it comes complete with a sieve on the top to filter the wine. Does anyone know when spirits first began to be distilled in Europe? I know whiskey was present in Europe by the Dark Ages.

[Andronikos]

I have read, that ancient Egyptian or middle eastern beer was more like a soup than a drink.
Brennus, that is interesting, where have you tasted that beer I would like to taste something ancient even if it would be plain, but AFAIK there is no possibility in proximity.

[Macilrille]

You can come to Denmark and try some medieval and viking age beer. We do not know the exact recipies, but the experiments are foten damn good. One of the best I have tried used oak bark instead of hops.

[Brennus]

I have read, that ancient Egyptian or middle eastern beer was more like a soup than a drink.
Brennus, that is interesting, where have you tasted that beer I would like to taste something ancient even if it would be plain, but AFAIK there is no possibility in proximity.

I was at a conference in County Sligo, Ireland. One of the speakers was discussing a Neolithic feature (the name escapes me) which is found in Ireland. This feature is effectively a stone trough or cist which is sunk into the ground. Now people are not sure what these were used for and this speaker was suggesting that they could have been used for both baking bread and for brewing beer. He had conducted experiments with his own home made version of the feature and was kind enough to bring in samples of what he had brewed. His name was Gerard Flynn and I think his paper was published by the Institue of Technology Sligo, if you can find it I am sure the recipe is listed.

[Cadwalader]

There is a recipe for beer that was written down by the Sumerians in the form of a hymn to Ninkasi, the goddess of beer. It was made of honey bread, dates and (unmalted?) grain. Apparently they did not filter it after the fermentation and drank it fresh so it must have been very yeasty.

Before hops became popular, people used naturally occuring herbs like Sweet gale to flavour their beer, but I am not sure how old this practice is.

[dominique]

I don't think I could stomach garum sauce, I would certainly like to try it at least once, but i think it would make your stomach turn.

Garum must have tasted a lot like the salty fish sauce they serve with the imperial rolls in vietnamese restaurants.
It's actually quite good.

Imagine now what the greeks or romans would have said if confronted with Ketchup or Mayonnaise!

[Brennus]

Imagine now what the greeks or romans would have said if confronted with Ketchup or Mayonnaise!

"Needs more fish guts"

[A Nerd]

I'm not trying to be a goof, but will these beers and wines from antiquity make you tipsy? Or is the alcohol content weaker?

edit: garum sauce sounds good. What did it top?

[HunGeneral]

I'm not trying to be a goof, but will these beers and wines from antiquity make you tipsy? Or is the alcohol content weaker?

I read somewhere that ancient Wines and Beers had somewhat less alcohol then what is the average today. Beer had many ingrediants (aswell as plants with narcotic effects) so I quess it didn't have much alcohol but you still could get drunk from it.

I must say that I'm not sure wether that is true for Wine though - I read they drank it with 2/3 water ratio which means they added some water to it, which atleast here is almost considered an insult to the Drink. One can still get drunk from it but has to drink more for the effect.

Alittle off topic: how popular is Wine mixed with soda water in West Europe nowadays? I'm just curious...

[Cute Wolf]

I read somewhere that ancient Wines and Beers had somewhat less alcohol then what is the average today. Beer had many ingrediants (aswell as plants with narcotic effects) so I quess it didn't have much alcohol but you still could get drunk from it.

I must say that I'm not sure wether that is true for Wine though - I read they drank it with 2/3 water ratio which means they added some water to it, which atleast here is almost considered an insult to the Drink. One can still get drunk from it but has to drink more for the effect.

Alittle off topic: how popular is Wine mixed with soda water in West Europe nowadays? I'm just curious...

Same goes here, we're mixing tea with vodka / rhum / whatever high alcohol drinks....

[Mediolanicus]

Didn't the Gaul (or was in about the Belgae I read?) became completely wasted rather fast, because they drunk undiluted wine according to the Romans?

Alittle off topic: how popular is Wine mixed with soda water in West Europe nowadays? I'm just curious...

Not popular at all. Like you say, it is an insult to the drink.
I do know some people who put some ice cubes in their Rosé wines. That adds some water. But not in red or white wines. Never.

[Ibrahim]

You can come to Denmark and try some medieval and viking age beer. We do not know the exact recipies, but the experiments are foten damn good. One of the best I have tried used oak bark instead of hops.

you scandinavians and your beer-swilling ways...bringing hops to the masses like that

since we are on the subject, what exactly is hops? I keep hearing about it, but being a complete virgin to alcohol (and not planning on changing that), I have no clue what it is.

[Mulceber]

I read somewhere that ancient Wines and Beers had somewhat less alcohol then what is the average today. Beer had many ingrediants (aswell as plants with narcotic effects) so I quess it didn't have much alcohol but you still could get drunk from it.

I must say that I'm not sure wether that is true for Wine though - I read they drank it with 2/3 water ratio which means they added some water to it, which atleast here is almost considered an insult to the Drink. One can still get drunk from it but has to drink more for the effect.

Alittle off topic: how popular is Wine mixed with soda water in West Europe nowadays? I'm just curious...

Well, that's true of the wine, but it should be remembered that undiluted ancient wine was actually a syrup, so it's not that we drink unmixed wine, we just have it pre-mixed. -M

[HunGeneral]

Not popular at all. Like you say, it is an insult to the drink.
I do know some people who put some ice cubes in their Rosé wines. That's adds some water. But not in red or white wines. Never.

So I thought. Like I said adding normal water is considered an insult around here aswell although I should add that adding soda (what counts is the Carbon dioxide not the water) is quite common and very popular - its done with cheap wines in pubs to give them a better aftertaste. It really makes those better, but it should not be used with quality or sweet wine - most of the time it just spoils it.