Food in the Ancient World

John Wilkins, Shaun Hill

• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell
• Year: 2009
• ISBN:
  9781405154703
• Edition: 1
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Ancient History
• Index: History

In Food in the Ancient World, a respected classicist and a practising world-class chef explore a millennium of eating and drinking.

• Explores a millennium of food consumption, from c.750 BC to 200 AD.
• Shows the pivotal role food had in a world where it was linked with morality and the social order.
• Concerns people from all walks of life – impoverished citizens subsisting on cereals to the meat-eating elites.
• Describes religious sacrifices, ancient dinner parties and drinking bouts, as well as exotic foods and recipes.
• Considers the role of food in ancient literature from Homer to Juvenal and Petronius.

Table of contents

• Figures
• Preface
• Timeline
• Map of the Mediterranean
• Introduction
• 1 An Overview of Food in Antiquity
• Introduction
• 2 The Social Context of Eating
• Introduction
• 3 Food and Ancient Religion
• Introduction
• 4 Staple Foods: Cereals and Pulses
• Introduction
• 5 Meat and Fish
• Introduction
• 6 Wine and Drinking
• Introduction
• 7 Food in Ancient Thought
• Introduction
• 8 Medical Approaches to Food
• Introduction
• 9 Food in Literature
• Recipes
• Bibliography
• Index