Quezi

Date farm outside of Cairo - courtesy CairoCarol - CC-BY

Vegetables and fruits were very basic in the ancient Egyptian diet and they had more of a variety than many modern people imagine.

Common knowledge has it that the ancient Egyptians had dates, garlic and onions and little else.  Well, that just isn’t the case.

Of course dates, onions and garlic really were staple foods.  But there were other fruits and vegetables found too, according to season.

The farming seasons of ancient Egypt were Akhet, which was the season of the flood, when the river overflowed wetting the ground and getting it ready for Peret, the season of planting for the upcoming season, Shemu, when the Egyptians harvested it all.

Of the vegetables grown, besides onions, garlic had an enormous value. An inscription of Ramses III tells how he ordered large quantities of garlic to be distributed from the temples, as were thousands of jars of raisens and dried dates.  These products were taken as taxes during the harvest season and then redistributed at need by order of the king.

Vegetable crops included Radishes, cabbage, leeks, celery, endive, cucumbers, carrots (not orange but black, purple or white) and a variety of melons, including watermelon.  There was also a good selection of wild vegetables such as papyrus root and lily tubers.  Fava beans (a type of pea and not a true bean) have been found as offerings in tombs, as were lentils and common green peas. (and contrary to urban legend, none of these seeds have sprouted thousands of years later) These vegetable crops were grown from the beginning.

Of course from the Old Kingdom beginnings of Egyptian civilization, dates were grown as were figs and grapes.  Apples, olives and pomegranates were grown by the time of the Middle Kingdom.  Mulberry trees and plums came with the expansion of empire in the New Kingdom. The Persians, Greeks and Romans introduced almonds, cherries, peaches and a type of pear.

So, by the time Cleopatra threw a banquet, there was a fairly wide variety of produce her kitchens could choose from.  There was even more than one kind of grape she could have peeled for Mark anthony.

For some ancient Egyptian recipes