This wooden model of brewers and butchers was found in the tomb of a wealthy official named Sebekhetepi. This model and another representing a granary had been placed there to make sure that Sebekhetepi would be supplied with food and drink in the afterlife.
Egypt’s fertile soil and abundant wildlife encouraged population growth, and in time producing enough food to support the people became the main responsibility of its rulers. This was not a straightforward matter: a successful harvest depended on the height of the Nile flood, which could vary dramatically from year to year. In a good year, the harvests were big enough to feed everyone and even leave some foodstuffs for export, but a bad year could mean famine and starvation. The main food crops were wheat and barley, which provided bread and beer, the Egyptian dietary basics.
Most people made their own bread and beer, but palaces and temples had large kitchens to cater for the entire household. Flour was made by grinding the grain between two stones; it was then mixed into dough with water and leavening and shaped into loaves. The loaves were either left in the sun or in warm moulds to rise, then baked in a clay oven. There were many different kinds of bread, and dates or honey were sometimes added to make sweet cakes.
Beer was made from the same raw materials, by adding bits of partly-baked dough to vats of water and leaving it to ferment. When the beer was ready, it was strained into jars. Although there was plenty of fresh water to drink, most people – children included – seem to have preferred beer, which in fact contained very little alcohol. Wealthy Egyptians could also enjoy wine made from grapes, which were trodden, then squeezed in a cloth to extract the juice. Just like modern wine bottles, jars of wine were labelled to say where the wine was grown, whose vineyard it came from and when it was made.
Grapes and other fruit, such as dates, figs and pomegranates, were enjoyed as part of a healthy diet that also included plenty of vegetables. Salad vegetables included lettuces, cucumbers and spring onions, while peas, beans and lentils were dried for storage, then cooked in stews flavoured with leeks and onions. Herbs like mint, thyme and oregano were used to add flavour, along with spices such as cumin, coriander and aniseed. Dried fruits, almonds and sesame seeds were also eaten, and sesame and olive oils were used in cooking. Other common foods included eggs and dairy products such as milk, yoghurt and cheese.
Animals and poultry were raised for food, but only the wealthy could afford to eat meat regularly. Rich Egyptians enjoyed beef, lamb, goat, venison and pork, along with ducks, geese and quail. Ordinary people relied on a vegetarian diet supplemented by what they could catch themselves. Rabbits, hares, wild birds and plentiful fish provided important protein. Larger households made sure of having fresh fish all year round by keeping them in garden pools.
The kitchen
Except in large households, where there were male cooks and bakers, cooking was the responsibility of women and girls. Part of their task was to prepare packed lunches for the men and boys to take to work or school. The kitchen was usually an open yard at the back of the house with a wood-fired oven, a grindstone and pots for storage. Food was served on trays or baskets; there were no plates, and people ate with their fingers. When they ate together, the family sat around the food and helped themselves, but at large parties, servants brought food and drink to the guests.
The Egyptians grew a variety of crops for consumption, including grains, vegetables and fruits. However, their diets revolved around several staple crops, especially cereals and barley. Other major grains grown included einkorn wheat and emmer wheat, grown to make bread.
Nile River: The Nile River played a crucial role in Egyptian agriculture. Its annual flood deposited nutrient-rich silt onto the floodplains, creating fertile soil for farming. Farmers utilized the floodwaters to irrigate their fields, ensuring consistent water supply for their crops.
Dried fruits, almonds and sesame seeds were also eaten, and sesame and olive oils were used in cooking. Other common foods included eggs and dairy products such as milk, yoghurt and cheese. Animals and poultry were raised for food, but only the wealthy could afford to eat meat regularly.
A wide variety of vegetables, fruits, and legumes were cultivated and consumed, including green onions, lettuce, dates, figs, and peas, the latter of which was introduced during the Middle Kingdom. These are depicted with meat and fowl in elegant and inventive compositions on stelas and tomb walls.
At the microeconomic level, households must be able either to grow their own food or have the resources to buy food from the market. Egypt is largely self-sufficient in the production of most agricultural products except for wheat, oil, and sugar.
Another major agricultural development was the introduction of irrigation. The Ancient Egyptians effectively utilized the annual flooding of the Nile River, depositing nutrient-rich organic matter onto their farmlands, and meeting their crops' water needs.
This made the soil along the Nile extremely fertile, enabling the farmers to enjoy good harvests year in, year out. They planted their crops every February, after the Nile had receded back to the river bed, and harvested them each June, shortly before the floods came.
Because all the land in Egypt now belonged to Pharaoh, Joseph asked that a tax of one fifth of the crops produced should be given to Pharaoh. The remaining four fifths of the harvest belonged to the people.
Egyptian cuisine makes heavy use of poultry, legumes, vegetables and fruit from Egypt's rich Nile Valley and Delta. Examples of Egyptian dishes include rice-stuffed vegetables and grape leaves, hummus, falafel, shawarma, kebab and kofta.
Ful. Ful is by far the most famous food in Egypt, eaten during breakfast by everyone in Egypt on daily basis. It is a vegan dish that is a great source of nutrition and is believed to have been cooked in ancient Egypt.
Most of the population would probably have only eaten a breakfast of bread and then in the early afternoon a main meal that included bread and beer. There are images that show pictures of banquets from both the New and Old Kingdom time periods. The banquets started in the afternoon.
The staples of both poor and wealthy Egyptians were bread and beer, often accompanied by green-shooted onions, other vegetables, and to a lesser extent meat, game and fish. An early Ramesside Period mural painting from Deir el-Medina tomb depicts an Egyptian couple harvesting crops.
King Tut's epicurean delights ranged from roasted gazelle to sweet, dense honey cakes. Ancient Egyptians believed that pharaohs would dine on the food left in their tombs in the afterlife, so they made sure to pack picnics worthy of eternity. Over 100 woven baskets laden with food were found in Tut's tomb.
In ancient Egypt, animal meat, domesticated fowl, game bird meat, and fish had then considered luxury food items that were consumed primarily by the Pharaohs, nobility class, high priests, and wealthy Egyptians (Figs. 1, 4).
This was possible because of the ingenuity of the Egyptians as they developed basin irrigation. Their farming practices allowed them to grow staple food crops, especially grains such as wheat and barley, and industrial crops, such as flax and papyrus. They excelled in horticulture.
So fertile were the fields of Egypt that, in a good season, they produced enough food to feed every person in the country abundantly for a year and still have surplus, which was stored in state-owned granaries and used in trade or saved for leaner times.
Egyptian farmers irrigated their crops during the dry season. They scooped out basins in the earth to store river water. Then they dug canals that extended from the basins to the fields. This meant the water could flow to their crops.
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