This is a wonderful list of ancient foods published by LoveFOOD (see reference below). I totally expected to see bread, honey, and wine on the list. But was a little bit surprised by the inclusion of beer, beef jerky, and popcorn.
The evidence “suggests that bread making has its roots with the Natufian, a hunter-gatherer culture who lived in the Levant around 14,000 years ago.” WOW! OK! Uumm … who are the Natufian again??
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According to Merriam Webster the Natufians are “a Mesolithic cave dweller of Mount Carmel and other localities in ancient Palestine”.
A reference to honey is found in ancient Mesopotamian documents but of course we all know that the honey has been around as long as the honey bee!
“Wine traces have been found in vessels from ancient China, but it was in the Mediterranean that the boozy drink truly flourished in antiquity.”
And all this time I thought Albert Einstein invented beer only to find out the ancient Babylonians not only drank wine but they drank beer too!
At least I was right about popcorn! Half-right. I gave credit to the Native Americans; but not the ancient American Indians. I was thinking the food was invented somewhere in the 1800s. Not so! There is proof that this snack was enjoyed by the indigenous American tribes in the states of New Mexico and Utah. There is also proof found in Mexico City and Peru. Per food historians, growing corn goes way back to the ancient civilizations in Central America AND the Native Americans taught the Europeans how to grow corn. So even if there is no documentary evidence or other archaeological findings, it wouldn't surprise me that anywhere that corn was grown, the people who grew it probably accidentally discovered this fun treat when somebody through a dry corn cob into a fire and it started popping. Popped kernels were likely flying everywhere and they smelled so good, somebody had to taste them! I can just imagine that's how it happened. LOL. That's how most of our great discoveries happen. After all of our painstaking research looking everywhere, we stumble upon the truth accidentally.
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(Fun Food: Sweet Honey Popcorn Recipe | Cakies by Rachel ~ NOTE: If you want to make this snack food sweet and spicy, just sprinkle in powdered cayenne and cinnamon.)
Archaeologists have found traces of apple cider vinegar in both ancient Egyptian and Chinese vessels; however there is a mention of this food in Babylonian writings that date back to 5,000 BC.
Did you know beef jerky goes all the way to ancient Egypt? Don't know why I did not make the connection. After all they did have a lot of cattle. You might think that everything can be traced back to ancient Egypt. A lot of things can. But not everything! Tofu and Tea don't date back to ancient Egypt. Nevertheless. per this LF list, honey, beer and wine, apple cider vinegar, and beef jerky were included in the food and drink of the ancient Egyptians.
The article is a fun read. Below are all the foods on the list in alphabetical order and a link to the content if you're interested.
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Beef jerky
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Beer
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Bone broth
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Bread
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Butter
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Cheese
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Chocolate
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Fish sauce
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Ghee
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Honey
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Kombucha
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Mead
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Noodles
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Oatcakes
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Olive oil
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Pasta
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Popcorn
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Sauerkraut
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Soy sauce
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Soya milk
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Tea
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Tofu
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Vinegar
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Wine
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Yogurt
REFERENCE: “Ancient Foods We Still Love Today.” Lovefood.com, Loveeverything.com, Ltd., prelive-www.lovefood.com/galleries/64219/ancient-foods-we-still-love-today. Web. 29 June 2021.
NOTE: Pizza was not included in the list. Naples. Italy is said to be the birthplace of modern pizza. However, historians say that pizza has been around since the 6th century BC and it was a food eaten by the Persian soldiers. Back then, it was called "flatbread".
The Secret History of Pizza | Epicurious
I'm from America and corn is the only food I know of in my country that is “ancient”.
Are there any ancient foods in your part of the world that are not on this list?
