What was the nutrition like in Ancient Egypt?
MEATS: In ancient Egypt the affluent people mainly ate beef, with some sheep and goat. They would only eat pig if the other meat was not available. They would also hunt for many other wild animals, such as deer and antelopes. The poor people ate less meat, they would have smaller portions of beef, because it was very expensive. But they would eat more goat, sheep and pigs. The poor ate geese, ducks, quails, cranes and other species, the rich didn’t eat this because it was considered fowl.
FISH: They would eat many different types of fish from the River Nile. The wealthy people didn’t eat as much fish, but the poor did. The affluent didn’t eat much fish because meant was consider a delicacy. They would preserve the fish by drying it in the sun or salting it. But they would also boil or roast the fish.
WATER: Even thought the River Nile was very close, the Egyptians did not usually drink water from there. They also didn’t drink water from canals or irrigation ditches. They didn’t drink the water from there because it contained lots of water snails and other animals, which spread disease through water. The diseases would carry very small animals that live inside peoples bodies, these tiny animals can make us very ill, blind and they can even kill us. But they did collect their water from wells, which would be found in villages or by their houses.
BEER: The Egyptians would receive a lot of beer, they would receive a dailies allowance of beer. Even the kids drank beer! Beer was made from barley or sometimes wheat, but they also used dates and other fruits were used as well.
MILK: They did not drink too much milk in Egypt as it is a very hot country and there was no way of keeping anything cold, so milk would go off in a few hours, unless it was drunk within that time. Any milk that was not going to be drunk within a few hours would be turned into a yoghurt-like drink or made into butter or cheese.
BREAD: In Egypt, for the majority of the people, wheat’s, barley and cereals formed the main backbone of the Egyptians diet. They had many different types of bread. As they agriculture existed in ancient Egypt.
VEGETABLES: Everyone in Ancient Egypt consumed vegetables. They ate beans, chick peas, lentils, green peas and Egyptian lettuce and many other types of vegetable. Garlic was eaten to repel against diseases. Onions were eaten for medical purposes.
FRUITS: The most popular fruit in ancient Egypt was the dates, which are rich in sugar and protein. The rich Egyptians often used honey as sweeteners, the poor more often used dates. Dates were also dried for later consumption, and were also sometimes used to make wine. Grapes and raisins were both popular when available. We have found traces pomegranates and watermelon in tombs. They also ate Egyptian plums and peach, but they were not found in the Ptolemaic period. Olives were brought into Egypt in the late stages of ancient Egypt. The walnuts and carob pods were brought in from the New Kingdom onward.
FATS AND OILS: There were many of different types of oils and fats used in papering foods. Beef and goat were some of the types of fats. In Egyptian language there were 21 different names for vegetable oil, acquired through sesame, caster-oil plants, flax seed, radish seed, horseradish, safflower and colocynth. Horseradish oil was also a very popular type of oil. Oils and fats were mainly used to fry meat and vegetables.
SEASONINGS AND SWEETENERS: Pepper is one of the only types of seasonings found in the, Ancient Egypt period, however there were other types of seasonings around such as aniseed, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, dill, fennel, fenugreek, marjoram, mustard and thyme. Sugar itself also does not come up in the Egyptian diet, even though honey was used by the affluent as a sweetener, however it was most likely too expensive for the poor. Most people used different types of fruits as sweeteners, the most popular was the dates.
Not everyone had sufficient nutrition. There is evidence, that some people suffered nutritional deficiencies. A lack of nutrition can lead to a lot of things, e.g. heart disease and stroke, osteoporosis.