1. Notes

Food & Drink

Primer

Ancient Greek Food & Beverage

Overview, Recipes & Resources

 

Basic Foods

   Cereals (wheat & barley & spelt), legumes (beans/nuts), fruit, fish, game, oil, and wine primary diet of ancient Greeks

   Fish/Seafood: Fish a primary aspect of Greek dining given coastal access.

   In the Greek islands and on the coast, mollusks like squid, octopus, cuttlefish, prawns, and crayfish were common. They were eaten locally but more often transported inland.

   Sardines and anchovies were regular fare for the citizens of Athens.

   Common saltwater fish were yellowfin tuna, red mullet, rays, sea bass, grouper, wrasse, swordfish, sturgeon, and eels from Lake Copais. These were delicacies usually eaten salted.

   The cheapest fish, sprat, were small, herring-like fish that were readily available to the ancient Greeks.

   Bread: Many purposes at the dinner table—it was used to scoop out thick soups, as a napkin to clean hands, and, when thrown on the floor, was food for the slaves or the dogs.

   Meat: Animal husbandry and hunting brought meats/game to menu.

   Hunting/Trapping: Pheasant, wild hares, boar, and deer

   Animal Husbandry: Chickens, geese, and their eggs tended by poorer families; wealthy families raised goats, pigs, lamb, sheep, and donkeys

   In the city, meat was expensive except for pork. In Aristophanes' day, a piglet cost three drachmas, which was three days' wages for a public servant. Sausages were common both for the poor and the rich.

   Vegetables: Eaten as soups, boiled or mashed, seasoned with olive oil, vinegar, herbs, or garon, a type of fish sauce. Poor families ate dried vegetables and oak acorns.

   Arugula, Asparagus, Cabbage, Carrots, Cucumbers, Radishes, Turnips, Carrots, Celery, Garlic, Fennel, Leeks, Squash, Artichokes.

   Fruits: Eaten fresh or dried often as dessert with nuts.

   Figs, raisins/grapes, pomegranates, plums, apples, pears, quinces, carob, jujubes, and bergamot oranges…lemon came later.

   Legumes: Lentils, chickpeas, green/yellow peas, beechnuts, chestnuts, walnuts, almonds.

   Beverages: Water and wine. Beer and honey mead were likely reserved for ancient festivals and holidays.

   Drank wine at all meals and during the day.

   They made red, white, rose, and port wines, with the main areas of production being Thasos, Lesbos, and Chios.

   Did NOT drink their wine straight—it was considered barbaric to do so. All wine was cut with water. The Greeks drank for the pleasure of the beverage, not with the intention of getting drunk.

   Kykeon: A combination of barley gruel, water (or wine), herbs, and goat cheese in an almost shake-like consistency.

   Dairy: Milk and cheeses from farm animals

   Honey: Bees were tended in ancient Greece

   Vinegar: Vinegars widely used. Apple cider vinegar mixed with honey for variety of ailments.

   Since the soil of Greece was generally poor, the Greeks grew grain at the bottom of the valleys and grapes and olives on the hill slopes.

   Desserts

   The technique to make the very thin phyllo dough had been discovered sometime around the 4th century B.C., so it's likely that sweets like baklava (gastrin — ancient baklava) were also eaten.

   Raw sugar was unknown to the ancient Greeks, so honey was the main sweetener, as were figs, and products made from naturally sweet grapes.

   Cheeses, figs, or olives drizzled with honey provided a typical ending to an evening meal.

 

Cooking Methods

   Cooked over open fire — boil, fry, simmer, stew, grill, roast on spit (meat tied to stick and rotated by hand over fire)

   Cooking pots made of clay…pots put in clay ovens (like modern day pizza ovens) or covered and buried in hot coals all day

   Preserved foods by smoking, drying, salting, storing in syrups and fat. Foods stored with a topping of oil to keep air out.

 

Dining Styles

   Aristocratic people sat or lounged on couches set before low tables laden with food and ate in a communal style.

   For the common man as well as the aristocrat, utensils were not used; everything was eaten with the hands. The bread was often used for picking food with, or for cleaning hands after eating instead of napkins.

   Greeks ate sitting on high chairs and high rectangular tables during normal meals.

   They used couches and low tables only for the "symposia", where they ate and drank reclined on the couches.

   Different vessels were used, mainly terracotta. 

   Lesche: Private clubs

   Phatnai: Clubs that catered to travelers, traders and visiting diplomats

   Kapeleia: Lively Greek taverns…that were found in private homes. Researchers believe that while there is little evidence of “taverns” as standalone commercial buildings, there’s archaeological evidence that private homes served as taverns and brothels

 

Meal Times

Breakfast: Called "akratismos" was taken very early in the morning, at dawn.

   Bread dipped in wine: The bread was made from barley, the main source of all bread in ancient times. It was probably hard, which is why the Greeks would dip it in the wine, to soften it up and make it easier to eat.

   Teganites: Resembles a pancake. These were made with wheat flour, olive oil, honey, and curdled milk, and usually topped with honey or cheese.

 

Lunch: Called “ariston" and taken at late noon.

   Bread, Wine, Figs, Salted Fish, Cheeses. Bread and wine made an appearance at this midday meal as well, but the Greeks would drink a bit more of the wine versus simply dunking bread into it. Lunch was considered a midday snack, so it was common for the Greeks to dine on relatively light foods like figs, salted fish, cheeses, olives, and more bread. Pasteli would be good option for on-the-road…ancient Greek power bar.

 

Dinner: Called "deipnon" and was taken at nightfall.

   Most important meal of the day. In ancient times, it was when everyone would gather with friends—not family—and discuss things like philosophy or maybe just daily events.

   Eggs (quail, hens), Fish, Legumes, Olives, Cheeses, Bread, Figs, Vegetables Grown Locally.

   Common/Popular Spices: Coriander (cilantro), dill, mint, oregano, saffron, and thyme. Salt and pepper were common condiments used at the time.

   Fish often cooked with cheese. According to the "Alimentary Habits in Ancient Greece," the oldest known recipe is for slices of fish cooked with cheese and oil.

   Meats were reserved for the wealthy. Meats were roasted on spits, cooked in ovens, and boiled. Goat, lamb

   Dinner was when most of the foods were consumed.

 

Social Meals: "Symposia" were gatherings for enjoying drinking.

   The first part of a "symposium" was dedicated to eating, and the second to the drinking itself.

   During the first part, wine was consumed with the food.

   During the second, the focus was on drinking wine (mixed with water, of course) with some nuts, toasted wheat or honey cakes for nibbling. During the second part of a "symposium" one shared cup or a special vessel – "kylix" was often used for all guests to pass it around and drink in turns. Musicians and dancers were often present.

   Wearing wreaths on one’s head was important — they were believed to ward off drunkenness, migraines and other maladies.

 

General Themed Dining/Drinking Recipe Ideas

 

•   Ancient Bean Soup: http://www.greek-recipe.com/ancient-bean-soup/

•   Tagenites (Ancient Greek Pancakes): http://www.ancientworldalive.com/single-post/2015/06/15/Ancient-Greek-pancakes-Tagenites-Attanitai

•   Moustos (Greek Grape Must): https://www.thespruceeats.com/moustos-grape-recipe-1705436

•   Petimezi (Grape Syrup/Molasses): https://www.thespruceeats.com/grape-syrup-molasses-1706186

•   Gastrin (Ancient Baklava): https://www.thespruceeats.com/ancient-greek-baklava-recipe-1706048

•   Ancient Greek Fish with Coriander: http://www.greek-recipe.com/ancient-greek-fish-with-coriander/

•   Portokalia me Meli (Orange Honey Dessert): https://www.thespruceeats.com/orange-honey-dessert-1705555

•   Pasteli (Greek Sesame Honey Candy…ancient Greek version of a power bar): https://www.thespruceeats.com/pasteli-sesame-honey-candy-1705290

•   Ancient Honey & Sesame Fritters: http://www.greek-recipe.com/ancient-honey-and-sesame-fritters/

•   Roasted Leeks & Apples: http://www.helleniccomserve.com/recipe.html

 

Resources:

https://www.thespruceeats.com/ancient-greek-food-recipes-4169393

https://www.thespruceeats.com/ancient-greek-cooking-1706100

https://www.thespruceeats.com/what-did-the-ancient-greeks-eat-1706101

https://www.thespruceeats.com/eating-like-an-ancient-greek-1705715

http://www.ancientworldalive.com/single-post/2015/06/03/Ancient-meals-and-eating-habit-Part-1-Greeks (<— Great website overall for Ancient Greco-Roman info)