Ancient Egypt was around far longer than Rome — several thousand years compared to Rome’s short 1,000 years. Ancient Egypt, though, was static compared to the dizzying change of pace of Roman fashions and tastes. Consequently, both what was available as food, and what was preferred, did not change as much as it did in either Greece or Rome later. There were, for instance, no citrus fruit or chickens until introduced by the Romans.
No cookbooks have been left behind; a primary source of figuring out what the Egyptians ate is food left in tombs.
Only wealthy houses had dedicated kitchens. Everyone else (meaning the great vast majority of the population) built fires in communal courtyards or on the roofs. During the Old Kingdom, the wealthy would recline to eat in front of low tables. Later, the fashion changed, and they ate sitting up. They ate with their hands throughout the entire history of the civilisation.
The Egyptians made blood sausage and loved offal. They used oil and animal fat for frying in, but olive oil wasn’t common.
Wine amphora were labelled to indicate the vineyard and year.
Bread in Ancient Egypt
All leavened bread in Ancient Egypt was sourdough-style bread until about 1500 BC, after which they may have used yeast which was a by-product of making beer. One of the few things that did change in Egyptian food over the years were the shapes and ingredients in their bread. These varied according to what was available, and to what had come into popularity and what had gone out.
Grain was crushed in a stone mortar, then ground between a stone and a slab, and sieved . The flour ended up very coarse, though it could be ground finer by toasting the grain first. The flour contained a good deal of stone dust, and wore down their teeth, causing terrible dental problems for many people. Millstones were only introduced when the Romans came along.
