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9 of the oldest food recipes from history still in use today

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Image Source: The Great Courses

POSTED BY: DATTATREYA MANDAL APRIL 4, 2018

Food is so much more than just a source of nourishment and subsistence. Its richness colors
culture, history, and even literature. Its coalescing prowess brings people together into
communities by creating a sense of familiarity and brotherhood. Some might go so far as to
say that food is one of the major forces forging a national identity. It gives individuals a
feeling of belonging that is at the core of nationalism. It serves as a hobby, a passion, a
profession and sometimes even as a refuge.
It is interesting to see how food preparation has evolved through history, from the Paleolithic
man’s roast meat cooked over the open fire in shallow pits to the modern art of molecular
gastronomy. Some ancient recipes, however, have miraculously stood the test of time and
continue to be in wide use even to this day. Below are ten of the oldest food recipes (still
surviving in their ‘modern’ entities) known to historians:

Note: The list focuses on the oldest enduring recipes that are more intricate than just bread,
rice, meat roasted over the fire or dried in the sun, noodles or for that matter soups. Most of
us know that bread was one of the first foods prepared by man, some 30,000 years ago.
Although there are many recipes of flatbread, leavened bread and others that are more
complicated than just toasting a flattened gruel mixture over the fire, they largely belong to
the category of staples much like rice, kebab, and noodles. Here, we are more concerned with
specific recipes or at least family of recipes that use spices and herbs to enhance flavor and
have slowly evolved over time thanks to advancements in cooking technologies.

1) Stew, circa 6000 BC –

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Image Source: MyBestGermanRecipes

Much like curry, the stew is a beautiful mess of vegetables, meat, poultry and a myriad of
other ingredients, cooked slowly over gentle heat. The resultant food concoction is a riot of
color, flavors, and aromas that are much more sophisticated than the plain old soup. Although
water is the most common stew-cooking liquid used, some recipes call for wine and even
beer. While curry focuses more on building a depth of flavor by adding different spices, stew
recipes are generally simple and rely on only basic seasoning. The practice of simmering
meat in liquids over the fire until tender dates back 7,000 to 8,000 years – which makes it one
of the world’s oldest food recipes. Archaeological findings indicate that many Amazonian
tribes used the hard exterior shells of large mollusks as utensils for making stew in. To
prepare a similar Scythian dish (approx. 8th to 4th centuries BC), wrote ancient Greek
philosopher Herodotus, one has to:

… put the flesh into an animal’s paunch, mix water with it, and boil it like that over the bone
fire. The bones burn very well, and the paunch easily contains all the meat once it has been
stripped off. In this way an ox, or any other sacrificial beast, is ingeniously made to boil
itself.

The Old Testament is rich with references to this type of food preparation. In Genesis, for
instance, Esau and his brother Jacob paid off the dowry that Isaac incurred when he married
Rebecca by offering a pot of meat stew. There are also several mentions of lentil and grain-
based stews. Apicius: De Re Coquinaria, the extant 4th century BC Roman cookbook,
contains a number of detailed recipes about fish as well as lamb stews. The earliest mention
of ragout, a French stew, lies in the 14th-century book by chef Taillevent called Le Viandier.

In the 16th century, the Aztecs partook in a gruesome practice of preparing stews with actual
human meat and chillis, also known as tlacatlaolli – though if the concoction was actually
consumed is up for debate. An important written record of this practice can be seen in a 1629
treatise by Hernando Ruiz de Alarcón. Pottage, sometimes referred to as a thick stew made
with a variety of things like vegetables, meats, grains, and fish, has been continuously
consumed all over Europe from the Neolithic Age. It was widely known as the poor man’s
food, thanks to the easy availability of its ingredients.

2) Tamales, circa 5000 BC –

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Image Source: BehindtheBread

Soft parcels made from masa (a type of dough) and filled with fruits, meats, vegetables
among other things, tamales are a popular Mesoamerican dish that has a long, enduring
history. First prepared somewhere between circa 8,000 and 5,000 BC – thus boasting their
legacy as one of the oldest food items, tamales were later widely consumed by Olmecs,
Toltecs, Aztecs and later Mayas. Steamed gently inside corn husks or banana leaves, they
were commonly used as portable edibles by travelers and soldiers back when preserving food
for long duration was difficult.

Historically, the dough-based food was served at festivals and feasts, and usually contained a
variety of fillings, including minced rabbit, turkey, frog, fish, flamingo, eggs, fruits, beans
and so on. Many pottery fragments dating back to circa 200 – 1000 AD have been discovered
in the region bearing the Classic Maya hieroglyph for tamales. Today, tamales are eaten all
across Mexico, Central America, South America, the Caribbean, the United States and the
even Philippines.

3) Pancakes, circa 3300 BC –

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Image Source: KingArthurFlour

Around the world, pancakes are a quintessential breakfast food, often consumed with fruits,
chocolate, syrup and a variety of other toppings. It refers to any flat, thin cake made from a
starchy batter and cooked in a frying pan or griddle. Depending on the place of origin,
pancakes can be very thin and crêpe-like (as in France, South Africa, Belgium among others),
made from banana or plantain (like kabalagala in Uganda) and even fermented rice (such as
dosa in South India). Tracing the history of pancakes, however, leads us back to Otzi the
Iceman, who was alive sometime during circa 3,300 BC. His naturally-mummified corpse,
the oldest in all of Europe, was discovered in 1991 in the Italian Alps.

Analysis of the body, according to historians, has uncovered a wealth of information about
the Neolithic diet. At the 7th meeting of the World Congress on Mummy Studies, researchers
revealed that Otzi’s last meal likely consisted of alpine ibex and red deer meat, along with
einkorn wheat pancakes. They argued that the traces of charcoal found in the 5,300-year-old
man’s stomach, in turn, suggest that the food was cooked over open fire. In essence, the
seemingly ubiquitous pancakes are one of the oldest food items known to us.

Pancakes were widely consumed by ancient Greeks, who called them tagenias or teganites
derived from the word tagenon (meaning ‘frying pan’). They were cooked on clay griddle
over the open fire. In works of 5th-century BC poets Magnes and Cratinus, we find the
earliest mention of these pancakes, which were made using wheat flour and olive oil and
served with curdled milk or honey. Much like the modern version, tagenites were commonly
eaten for breakfast.

The 3rd-century philosopher Athenaeus talked in his book Deipnosophistae of a similar food
(known as statitites), featuring spelled flour and adorned with sesame, cheese or just honey.
Ancient Romans enjoyed similar creations, which they called alia dulcia (meaning “other
sweets” in Latin). Interestingly, the 4th-century Roman cookbook Apicius actually contains a
detailed recipe for a pancake-like griddle cake, prepared from a mixture of egg, flour, and
milk and drizzled with honey. The first use of the English word “pancake” quite possibly took
place sometime during the 15th century.

4) Curry, circa 2600 – 2200 BC –

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Image Source: Shahid Hussain Raja

Nothing is more quintessentially Indian than curry. Originating in the Indian subcontinent,
this aromatic food is a medley of colors, spices, and herbs. Spices commonly used in curry
include cumin, turmeric, pepper, coriander, garam masala and so on. Interestingly, curry
powder is primarily a product of the West, first prepared in the 18th century for officials of
the British colonial government in India. They can be vegetarian (using lentils, rice or
vegetables) or fish, poultry or meat-based. Ever since the recipe was brought to the United
Kingdom some 200 years ago, curry has become one of the most recognized icons of British
culture. According to the National Curry Week, such is the popularity of this dish that it is
consumed regularly by over 23 million people across the globe.

Etymologists believe that “curry” originally came from kari, a word in Tamil that means
sauce or gravy. The history of this preparation goes back more than 4,000 years to the Indus
Valley civilization, where people often used stone mortar and pestle to finely grind spices
such as fennel, mustard, cumin and others. In fact, excavations at Harappa and Mohenjodaro
have unearthed pottery fragments with traces of turmeric and ginger, belonging to the period
between 2600 – 2200 BC, thus making curry (or at least the predecessor to curry) one of the
oldest food items in the world. As pointed out by historians, the curry was often eaten with
rice, which was already being cultivated in the area.

Sumerian tablets that have survived also talk of a similar food recipe for meat in some kind of
spicy gravy and served with bread, as early as 1700 BC. The Apicius cookbook of the 4th
century AD contains many meat recipes that were cooked in a similar fashion, with the use of
ingredients like coriander, vinegar, mint, cumin and so on. Authored in the 1390s, The Forme
of Cury is significant for possessing the earliest reference to the word “cury”, though it was
taken from the French term “cuire” for cooking. With the arrival of the Portuguese in Goa in
the 15th century as well as the Mughals in India in the early 16th century, the curry recipe
underwent multiple revisions.

In a way, the dish’s evolution represents the many cultural influences that have colored the
history of the Indian subcontinent. In case you are wondering, the oldest surviving curry
recipe in English can be found in the 1747 book by Hannah Glasse called The Art of
Cookery.

5) Cheesecake, circa 2000 BC –

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Image Source: druiz928

Dessert lovers like us often find themselves dreaming about the rich and decadent
cheesecake. This creamy and delicious food recipe usually features a thick, luscious layer of
sweetened cheese and a buttery biscuit base or crust. While the all too famous American
version requires cream cheese, which was invented only in 1872 by dairyman William
Lawrence, cheesecakes were originally the brainchild of ancient Greeks, who used a simple
mixture of honey, flour, and soft cheese to make a light, subtly-flavored cake often served at
weddings and other festivities.

Archaeological excavations in the last century have uncovered broken pieces of cheese molds
dating as far back as 2000 BC, thus making cheesecake one of the oldest food recipes. Some
historians believe that the very first “cheesecakes” might have been prepared in the Samos, a
Greek island that has been continuously inhabited for more than 5,000 years. In fact, the
dessert was offered to the athletes participating in the first Olympic games of 776 BC. The
earliest written mention of this recipe can be found in a 230 AD book by the ancient Greek
author Athenaeus.

Following the Roman conquest of Greece in 146 BC the cheesecake recipe was adopted by
the Romans and, turned into something even more delectable by the addition of eggs as well
as crushed cheese. The baked food item, called savillum, was often flavored with lemon or
orange zest, something that continues to be done even to this day. Historical records show
that the oldest extant cheesecake recipe can be found in the pages of Marcus Cato’s De Agri
Cultura. Later on, it made its way to Europe and, is rumored to have been one of Henry VIII’s
favorite desserts.

6) Pilaf, circa 1000 – 500 BC –

saffron rice with vegetables and cilantro

Image Source: GreekBoston

Although the bread was one of the oldest food items man prepared nearly 30,000 years ago,
the more complicated varieties like stuffed bread or pastry started appearing much later. By
comparison, rice has a long history of being used in rich, flavorsome and more intricate
preparations. Pilaf, for instance, is an ancient food recipe made by cooking rice, vegetables,
and meat in a broth seasoned with a number of different spices and herbs. Common
ingredients include chicken, pork, lamb, fish, seafood, carrots and so on. Called by different
names, depending on the country of origin, pilaf is widely consumed across the Middle East,
Central and South Asia, the Indian subcontinent, East Africa, the Balkans and so on.
Etymologically, “pilaf” comes from the Persian polow, while the term pulao (Indian version)
has its roots in the Sanskrit word pulaka (meaning “ball of rice”). While the rice was first
domesticated in China over 13,000 years ago and later in India, people of ancient Persia
started cultivating it as a crop between 1,000 and 500 BC. This paved the way for the first
pilaf recipe, which soon spread over other parts of the Middle East as well as Central Asia. In
328 BC, when Alexander the Great conquered the Sogdian city of Samarkand (now in
Uzbekistan and Tajikistan), he actually feasted on pilaf. Soon, the recipe was taken over to
Macedonia and then to different parts of Europe.

Around the same time, a similar rice preparation called pulao sprung in India. In fact, some of
the earliest mentions of this dish can be traced back to the epic text of Mahabharata (as early
as 400 BC) as well as certain ancient Sanskrit scriptures like Yajnavalkya Smriti (3rd to 5th
century AD). The arrival of Muslims in India (as early as 7th century AD) further enriched
one of the world’s oldest food recipe, with the addition of saffron and other aromatic spices.
This is basically what is called biryani, a type of Mughlai preparation in which the rice, meat,
and vegetables form distinct layers. The Spanish paella is believed to have descended from
the original pilaf recipe, as well.

7) Kheer, circa 400 BC –

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Image Credit: Thamizhpparithi Maari

For the uninitiated, kheer is a wonderfully rich and creamy milk-based dessert belonging to
the Indian cuisine. Often served at festivals, wedding ceremonies and even temples, it is
believed to be the predecessor of European rice pudding. In the Indian subcontinent, it is
known by many names, including payasam, payesh, phirni, and fereni among others. In fact,
payasam actually comes from payasa meaning milk. Similarly, the word “kheer” is a
modified form of the Sanskrit word ksheer for milk or kshirika (meaning a dish prepared with
milk). Coming to its recipe, kheer is prepared by cooking rice, vermicelli or broken wheat in
sweetened milk enriched with ghee and aromatic spices like cardamom and sometimes even
saffron. For special occasions, it is sometimes garnished with cashews, almonds, and
pistachios.

Some historians believe that kheer is one the world’s oldest food items, and was possibly one
of the concoctions of ancient Ayurveda. The earliest mentions of this food recipe date as far
back as 400 BC in the epic texts of Ramayana and Mahabharata. Firni (or fereni) is a close
variant of kheer that was created by the people of ancient Persia. Unlike kheer, firni is made
from roughly ground rice, which is then boiled in milk until completely mushy. Served cold,
this dish is usually infused with cardamom, saffron, and rosewater. In fact, the Persians were
the first to add rosewater into rice pudding; something that was later adopted by Indians. In
the 1999 book Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson writes:

The Persian version of the food, sheer birinj, according to Kekmat…was originally the food
of angels, first made in heaven when the Prophet Muhammad ascended to the 7th floor of
Heaven to meet God and he was served this dish.

During the reign of the Cholas in Southern India (between 300 BC and 1279 AD), kheer was
commonly offered as food to the gods at any kind of religious ceremony. Historical records
show that payas, a version of kheer first made in the Indian state of Orissa has been a popular
sweet dish in the city of Puri for the last 2,000 years or so. According to some experts, the
Bengali payesh is an equally old recipe. In fact, it is believed that spiritual leader Chaitanya
actually took with him a pot of gurer payesh (jaggery-sweetened payesh) on his trip to Puri in
the 16th century.

Shola (or sholleh) is a similar rice pudding that first appeared in the Middle East, Afghanistan
and Iran, and was later taken to Persia by Mongolians in approximately the 13th century AD.
Although rice as a grain was known to Greeks as well as Romans and was often imported
from Egypt, western Asia, and other places, the birth of modern-day rice pudding occurred
only after rice was introduced as a cultivable crop in Europe sometime between the 8th and
the 10th centuries. Baked rice pudding, flavored with nutmeg, was first made in the 16th
century and quickly began a popular sweet treat. The 1596 book The Good Huswifes Jewell
by Thomas Dawson features one of the oldest food recipes of baked rice pudding and it goes
as follows:

To make a Tart of Ryse… boil your rice, and put in the yolks of two or three Egges into the
Rice, and when it is boiled put it into a dish and season it with sugar, cinnamon, ginger,
butter, and the juice of two or three Oranges, and set it on the fire again.

8) Garum, circa 4th century BC –

9-oldest-food-recipes-history_8

Image Source: Pass The Garum

Fish sauce is synonymous with East and Southeast Asian cuisines, especially places like
Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia, Korea and even Japan. As its name suggests,
fish sauce is prepared by fermenting fresh or dried fish with large amounts of sea salt.
Anchovies are one of the most common types of fish used to makes Asian fish sauces. There
is a multitude of regional varieties, each featuring different sets of ingredients as well as
distinctly-unique tastes. In addition to being used as a condiment, fish sauce is often mixed
with herbs and spices and turned into dipping sauces. In fact, written records confirm that
sauces made from fermented fish have been in use in certain parts of China for the last 2,000
years or so.

One thing that has long puzzled historians is that the origins of fish sauce took root not in
Asia, but actually in Europe. Between the 3rd and 4th century BC, ancient Greeks started to
make a fish sauce preparation known as garum, which was later adopted by Romans and even
Byzantines. Named after an ancient type of fish garos by Roman naturalist Pliny the Elder,
this condiment was made by combining fish innards and blood with salt and letting it ferment
until it releases a pungent smelling liquid. Like modern-day soy sauce or ketchup, this
curiously concocted food item was added to dishes at the end of cooking.

With the arrival of Romans, a slightly different version of the garum, called liquamen, came
into use. According to some historians, it differs from garum in that it was made by
fermenting an entire fish and not just the insides. In that respect, it can be considered a
predecessor of present-day Southeast Asian fish sauce. By 4th century AD, liquamen became
extremely popular across the ancient Roman Empire, often taking the place of salt in recipes.
The Apicius cookbook, for instance, contains several food recipes that require liquamen or
garum for enhancing the flavor. Claudio Giardino, an archaeologist from Italy, stated:

According [to] the Roman writers, a good bottle of garum could cost something like $500 of
today. But you can also have garum for slaves that is extremely cheap. So it is exactly like
wine.

Archaeologists have discovered remnants of huge garum factories along coastal regions in
Spain, Portugal and even the northern parts of Africa. In fact, jars containing garum remains
in few of these factories actually helped researchers determine the date of the eruption of
Mount Vesuvius and the consequent destruction of Pompeii. A modern version of garum,
made from anchovies and currently in use in Italy, is Colatura di alic.

9) Isicia Omentata, circa 4th century AD –

9-oldest-food-recipes-history_9

Image Credit: Nataschas Palace

Burgers are emblematic of the modern fast food phenomenon. Sandwiched between two soft
slices of the bun and embellished with cheese, bacon, lettuce, tomato, onion, mayonnaise and
even pickles, this sumptuous meat patty is loved unanimously across the globe, ever since it
was introduced in the United States in the 1900s. It was widely popularized by street vendors
and was one of the first American fast food items. Although the origins of this iconic recipe
remain murky to this day, some historians believe that it can be traced back to isicia
omentata, an ancient Roman beef preparation that dates back to the circa early 4th century
AD – thus potentially being one of the oldest food items in the world.

The 1,500-year-old food recipe, which has survived in the extant ancient Roman cookbook
Apicius: De Re Coquinaria, involved mixing the minced meat, condiments, pine nuts, white
wine, and the famous Garum fish sauce, and cooking the resultant patties over an open fire.
Speaking about the dish, UK-based food historian Dr. Annie Gray said:

We all know that the Romans left a huge mark on Britain, fundamentally altering the British
diet forever. Street food became available en masse, and many of our favorite foods were
introduced, including Isicia Omentata, what can be seen as the Roman forefather to today’s
burger. This ‘burger’ was decidedly more upmarket than many of today’s offerings and is
richer and more complex than the plain beef version most common today.

Featured Image Source: The Great Courses

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