Bread and Beer for Peasant and King

The staples (basic foods) for everyone, peasant to king, were bread and beer. Emmer and spelt, the two kinds of wheat grown in Egypt, were ground on a grinding stone called a saddle quern. This work was done by women, and was very hard on the back and knees. Bakers created dozens of kinds of bread, to be served with thick spreads of fava beans, lentils, or chickpeas.

Even humble homes had a kitchen brewery. To make beer, barley flour was formed into loaves, which were lightly baked. The baked loaves were soaked in tubs of water and allowed to ferment. Other varieties of beer were made from fermented wheat, wheat loaves, or plain ground, unbaked barley. Beer was sweetened with honey, dates, or fruit juices.

Wine made from fermented palm sap or grapes was also popular and widely available. Vineyards in the Delta produced the choicest wines, but several regions of Egypt and the western desert oases also produced distinctive vintages. Imported wines had snob appeal, just as they do today. Wealthy families grew grapes in their gardens and pressed their own wines. The Egyptians preferred their wine, like their beer, sweet, so they added honey or fruit juices. Beer and wine stayed cool in large, semiporous, sealed earthenware jugs.

Even the poorest peasant could supplement his bread and beer with onions and eggs. Also on the regular menu was fish, caught in the Nile or in the many irrigation canals. Nile perch, catfish, and tilapia were spit-roasted over coals. Fish and pork were considered ritually impure, but both were common in peasants’ diets.

Farm families kept flocks of fowl for the table. Goose, duck, crane, and pigeon, spit-roasted over glowing embers, were favorite menu choices and available to all but the poorest. Wild birds of the marshes were snared or trapped in nets, or brought down with boomerang-like throw-sticks. Some were killed and eaten; others kept in small flocks for eggs.

Wealthy families had a much richer and more varied diet. They regularly enjoyed milk, butter, and cheese from herds of cows and goats. They frequently ate beef, goat, lamb, and mutton (sheep), all rare in a peasant’s diet. Nobles also dined on exotic meats such as gazelle and antelope.