Guides
A simmering pot of chickpeas, lamb, and onions offers a practical way to approach ancient Mesopotamian food. It is humble, filling, and adaptable, yet its…
Olive oil was far more than a cooking ingredient in ancient Greece. It illuminated houses, anointed athletes, treated the body, supported religious offerings…
A Roman soldier’s meal was shaped by marching distance, storage life, supply routes and the cooking facilities available to a unit. The familiar image of a…
A whole goose turning bronze over a fire would have been a powerful sight in ancient Egypt. It was a bird associated with abundance, temple offerings, domestic…
Long before chestnut flour appeared in modern health-food shops, communities in central Italy were learning how to make a difficult landscape productive. In…
In ancient Rome, a banquet was far more than a meal. The food served, the number of guests invited, the value of imported ingredients and even the vessels…
In ancient Greece, a wreath was more than a decorative circle of leaves. A crown of olive, laurel, myrtle, ivy, celery or other plants could mark victory,…
In Pompeii, bread was more than a staple placed beside a meal. It was a daily necessity, a commercial product, a source of employment and a visible sign of the…
Roman food can seem startling when it arrives on the page as a list of ingredients rather than a polished modern recipe. Dormice, stuffed with minced pork and…
In the seventh century BCE, Nineveh was a city of palaces, temples, workshops and irrigated gardens. At its centre stood the court of Ashurbanipal, the…
