Today, what did the ancients eat? The University of
Houston's College of Engineering presents this
series about the machines that make our
civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity
created them.
Technology has often
radically altered the food we eat. Harnessing fire some half-million
years ago not only meant cooked meat, it also meant
that many vegetables that would've been inedible
could now be eaten. We've found useable ovens from
the preagricultural world of twenty thousand years
ago. Another milestone was the widespread rise of
pottery some twelve thousand
years ago. With pottery, we gained means for
storing foods.
When we turned from hunter-gatherers into farmers
and settled down to live in one place, we ate more
grain and dairy products. That led to using yeasts
and fermentation to preserve food. We began baking
leavened bread, making cheese, and brewing beer.
In their book Ancient Inventions, Peter
James and Nick Thorpe describe how the ancients
ate. The great civilizations of the Mideast added
the important element of vegetable oils to their
diets -- corn oil, olive oil, rape seed and sesame
seed oils.
The use of sugar first became widespread among
Arabs in the seventh century. But the use of honey
and various fruit juices as sweeteners goes back
into prehistory. Imported Oriental spices were
already very popular in ancient Rome. They were
used both to preserve food and to enhance its
flavor.
The fast-food shop was created in the large ancient
cities. Chinese noodle-shops became very popular in
the first and second centuries A.D. The urban Roman
ate from street stalls that served various meats
and breads, and wines that were usually thinned
with water. The oldest known fast-food shop was
found in the Sumerian city of Ur. It operated in
1800 B.C.
Rome has left us Apicus' book, On Cookery.
Apicus himself is somewhat mysterious. Three famous
gourmands by that name lived during the period from
the late first century B.C. through the early
second century A.D. Perhaps the name of Apicus was
simply tacked on to a book assembled by other
people.
James and Thorpe offer some of its recipes
expressed in modern units. Roman custard is fairly
simple. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Then heat
two cups of milk and a quarter cup of honey in a
saucepan without letting it boil. Stir in three
beaten egg yolks and a quarter teaspoon of nutmeg
and pour it into a baking dish. Bake it for an hour
in the oven, then garnish it with more nutmeg.
Apicus' recipe for asparagus in wine really makes
my mouth water. I'll include it for you in the
written transcript.
Looking at all this, I wonder ... If I found myself
in, say, ancient Rome, able to speak Latin and
carrying a pocket full of denarius coins, how would
I have liked the food? The taste would run more to
spice, less to sweetness. More oils and fats, lots
of bread, meat and fruit -- fewer fresh vegetables.
I wonder. Perhaps I need to go home and make that
custard.
I'm John Lienhard, at the University of Houston,
where we're interested in the way inventive minds
work.
(Theme music)
P. James and N. Thorpe, Ancient Inventions.
New York: Ballantine Books, 1994, Chapter 7.
The following recipe for Asparagus in Wine is given
by James and Thorpe (above) on page 319.
1 pound asparagus
1 ½ cups white wine
1 cup vegetable stock
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 teaspoons finely chopped onion
¼ teaspoon ground pepper
1 teaspoon celery seeds
1 teaspoon ground coriander
¼ teaspoon savory
1 raw egg yolk, beaten
Pepper and salt to taste
Finely chop the asparagus shoots and place in a
mortar. Pound them into a paste; add the wine and
steep for about half an hour. Strain through a
colander, reserving the wine. In a pan, mix
together ¼ cup of the wine, the stock, olive
oil, onion, herbs and spices. Add the asparagus
purée, bring to a boil, lower the heat and
simmer for 15 minutes. Allow to cool slightly, add
the beaten egg yolk and season with pepper and
salt.
The Engines of Our Ingenuity is
Copyright © 1988-2003 by John H.
Lienhard.
