A Compendium of Ancient Greek Food

Hello my curious & hungry archaeogastronomers!What is "oinos tethalassomenos" ? Where does one find the best eels?What was a highly regarded game meat?Let's discover a few of the many unknown delicacies of the ancient Greek world. What was in vogue? What was considered tasty, healthy and accessible to eat for the average citizen of the wider Greek world, two and a half thousand years ago?Ancient Greeks were quite the foodies.They recognised local specialities, and local food excellence appears to be an ancient Greek innovation, balanced by the equally novel idea that food preferences, also, vary from place to place. Several lists of local fine produce are quoted by Athenaeus, in Deipnosophistai, from texts of the sixth to fourth centuries BC.Moreover, importantly, they were also practical; the food was seasonal obviously, in the age before the huge global networks of fast transportation and just 2000 years shy of electrical refrigeration!So wine that needed to be sold and transported should be preserved and should taste good. As well as other perishable goods and foods too. So many innovations and styles were discovered.What unusual herbs, salads, pickles, fish and meat, were in vogue, beyond the standard ones of olive oil, olives, grapes, figs, sheep and goat? What were they and how these were consumed in ancient world?Enjoy!Thom & The Delicious LegacySupport The Delicious Legacy on Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/thedeliciouslegacypodcastSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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A Greek Gourmand, travels through time...Imagine yourself dining with Socrates, Plato, or Pythagoras! What tasty morsels of food accompanied the conversations of these most significant minds in Western philosophy?Now picture yourself as you sat for a symposium with Cicero, or Pliny the Elder or Julius Caesar. The opulent feasts of the decadent Romans!Maybe, you're following Alexander the Great during his military campaigns in Asia for ten years. Conquering the vast Persian empire, while discovering new foods. Or try and picture the richness of fruits and vegetables in the lush Hanging Gardens of Babylon.What foods did our ancestors ate?How did all begin? Who was the first to write a recipe down and why? Sauces, ingredients, ways of cooking. Timeless and continuous yet unique and so alien to us now days. Staple ingredients of the Mediterranean world -as we think now- like tomatoes, potatoes, rice, peppers, didn't exist. What did they eat? We will travel far and wide, reconstructing the diet, the feasts, the dishes of a Greek Philosopher in a symposium in Athens, or a Roman Emperor or as a rich merchant in the last night in Pompeii.....Lavish dinners, exotic spices, so-called "barbaric" traditions of beer and milk, all intertwined...Stay tuned and find out more here, in 'The Delicious Legacy' Podcast!Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.