Photo courtesy of MattBites.com.
Fish sauce has long been a staple of Southeast Asian cooking. Made from fermented fish with sea salt, it has a strong, distinct flavor that enhances all the delicious flavors in Asian cuisine. Easily recognizable as a truly Eastern condiment, it’s fascinating to learn it has ancient roots in Western Europe as well, specifically in ancient Rome. Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Bon Appetit Wednesday, Culinary, Culture
Tagged ancient history, ancient recipe, Ancient Rome, AntiquityNOW, Bon Appetit Wednesday, colatura, East Asia, fish sauce, garum
*Don’t miss our 2013 recipe book filled with delicious food from main courses to drinks and desserts.
Mario Batali, Martha Stewart, Rachael Ray, Julia Child…giants in culinary arts known for their expertise, personal franchises and larger than life personalities. But they aren’t the only chefs known for their style.
How about those Babylonian epicures whose haute cuisine recipes date to c. 1750 BCE during the reign of Hammurabi?[1]
Ever see the culinary page-turner Hedypatheia (Pleasant Living or Life of Luxury), written around 350 BCE by Archestratus, a Sicilian Greek? [2] Continue reading
Image courtesy of Joel Luks.
Did you know that tamales are not simply a delicious Mexican creation, but actually an ancient food staple? Created by the Aztecs using maize, their most important food, tamales were often filled with beans that were second only to maize in dietary importance. Other popular fillings included chilies, amaranth seeds, maize flowers, honey, beeswax, turkey, eggs and cherries.[1] Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Bon Appetit Wednesday, Culinary, Culture
Tagged ancient food, ancient history, AntiquityNOW, Aztecs, black beans, Bon Appetit Wednesday, epazote, maize, Mexican food, tamales
Happy New Year! For a fortuitous upcoming 365 days, we’ve compiled a dinner spread that bodes well for 2014. Here’s a quick description of some holiday foods—with ancient ingredients—that are considered to bring good fortune: Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Bon Appetit Wednesday, Culinary, Culture, Holidays, Public Life
Tagged ancient history, AntiquityNOW, Bon Appetit Wednesday, culinary, lucky food, New Year
For many families, the Christmas feast is not complete without the Christmas ham. Did you know that the traditional Christmas ham was not originally associated with Christmas at all, but like so many other holiday traditions, grew out of ancient pagan practices? Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Bon Appetit Wednesday, Culinary, Culture, Holidays, Public Life
Tagged ancient history, AntiquityNOW, boar, Freyr, Norse mythology, yule log, Yuletide
Image courtesy of Reese Lloyd on Flickr.
Eggnog is a holiday beverage with a history and a taste that can’t be beat. To really appreciate the roots of eggnog, we have to go back 7,500 years. That was a period critical to the human species—or at least to those of us who indulge in dairy. It was sometime during that period that humans in the region between the central Balkans and central Europe developed “lactase persistence.” Professor Mark Thomas of University College London (UCL) Genetics, Evolution and Environment says in a 2009 study, “Most adults worldwide do not produce the enzyme lactase and so are unable to digest the milk sugar lactose. However, most Europeans continue to produce lactase throughout their life, a characteristic known as lactase persistence. In Europe, a single genetic change (13,910*T) is strongly associated with lactase persistence and appears to have given people with it a big survival advantage.” Continue reading
Below are two cookie recipes: one in honor of St. Nick and the other Santa Claus. For those of you who have a healthy dose of curiosity as well as a sweet tooth, let’s explore how these two holiday figures came to be.
St. Nicholas was a bishop in southwestern Turkey in the 4th century. Born to a wealthy family, he gave much of his money away in support of the poor. As the bishop of Myra, he had a number of miracles attributed to him and was eventually declared a saint. His feast day was celebrated on December 6th. During St. Nicholas’ lifetime, Pope Julius I decided that Jesus should be given a day that could be celebrated in honor of his birth. Because the winter solstice was already being celebrated, the birthday for Jesus was designated to coincide, which eventually proved successful in “Christianizing” the previously pagan holiday. Over time St. Nicholas’ day and Jesus’ birthday became associated, and the Christmas tradition began. Because St. Nicholas was beneficent in his offerings to the poor, stuffed stockings and gifts became synonymous with this day. Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Bon Appetit Wednesday, Celebrities, Culinary, Culture, Holidays, Public Life, Religion
Tagged ancient history, AntiquityNOW, Christmas, Dutch, holidays, Jesus, Saint Nicholas, Sancte Claus, Santa Claus, Sinter Klaus
For those foodies out there, AntiquityNOW has some new ways to display your appreciation of the ancients. We are featuring in The Bazaar, our new store that we announced last week, wearables that proclaim your fondness for foods with a history.
Here are some delightful, delectable and intriguing facts that you will sport on our new wearable designs:
Posted in Blog, Culinary, Culture, Fashion
Tagged ancient food, ancient history, AntiquityNOW, cacao, china, Egypt, Nero, Olympics, The Bazaar, Tomb of Menna
In yesterday’s blog post we told you about the recent discovery of one of the oldest and largest wine cellars in the world belonging to Canaanites living in north Israel around 1700 BCE. So today we’ve decided to share an ancient wine recipe that you can make to keep in your own wine cellar.
Spiced wine dates back to ancient Egypt, circa 3150 BCE, when it was made mainly for medicinal purposes and as a necessary menu item in the afterlife. The recipe often included pine resin, figs, and herbs like balm, coriander, mint and sage.[1] Several jars of up to five different types of wine were placed in the tombs of pharaohs and other royals.[2] Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Bon Appetit Wednesday, Culinary, Culture
Tagged ancient history, AntiquityNOW, conditum, culinary, Egypt, Greek, honey, mulsum, Roman wine, Spiced wine
It’s the holiday season, which means the wine is flowing as people around the world gather to celebrate. Whether it’s a small family dinner or the observance of an age-old religious tradition, wine has long been a staple of the holidays. Today, some people spend thousands of dollars to build elaborate wine cellars so their libations will always be at hand, but did you know that rooms dedicated to the storage of this fermented drink go back thousands of years? In fact, archaeologists digging at the ruins of a 1700 BCE Canaanite palace in northern Israel have found what may be one of civilization’s oldest and largest wine cellars. Continue reading
Posted in Blog, Culinary, Culture
Tagged ancient history, AntiquityNOW, Canaan, Egypt, Israel, Retsina, Tel Kabri, wine, wine cellar
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