
Originally Posted by
The Persian Cataphract
On cuisine itself, we don't have the plethora of Roman or Greek dishes; Nothing that inclusive, but we have a general framework for the military aspect, including means of preservation, and as always when we speak of the Greater Iran, we almost certainly stumble upon the spectrum of fruits, vegetables and nuts (We usually associate the geography of Iran, by stereotype, as arid, mountaineous, and steppen, which of course forms a part of the vegetation, but we seldom recognize the historically outstanding agricultural flexibility of the area), not to mention spices and other commodities. To make up for the lack of textual evidences, we will have to rely on archaeological means to unveil the domestication of sheep, goats, hogs and bovine cattle, and the first known fermentation of corn, barley, ephedra (Haomâg), and grapes. We will have to argue per cause of tradition and from there make an abstraction of what may have been suitable, for the common soldier on foot, for wealthier horsemen, the knightly caste and finally the general's cadre. What little there is, one must be thankful, because the sources do indeed with utmost fortune discuss these aspects (Beyond the array of ingridients contained in treatises such as "De Re Coquinaria" of Apicius, or the more in-the-depth "Agricultura").
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