Ancestral Foodies

Ever wonder what some of your ancestors ate? Did some dishes make it through the millenniums or fall by the culinary wayside? Did the Age of Exploration or a great migration factor into diets? You many be surprised at how some dishes changed and some stayed the same.

The Romans tended to be the most formal of the ancients . They had a set breakfast, lunch and dinner that most follow today. Breakfast was bread in watered down wine while lunch was something we could easily recognize and eat today - leftovers along with bread fruit and cheese. Supper varied with the classes. The poor would just have fresh vegetables with olive oil. The rich could indulge in all sorts of treats. Up north the Vikings had their own hearty menu. It consisted of whale and horseflesh but also preserved veggies and fruits. The last is an important part of the modern diet, whether it's from Norway Sweden,. Finland, Iceland or Denmark. They evne had a variation of lutefisk, but it invloved the basking or Greenland shark.

Further East the Chinese had the same rice and meat diet that's popular today, They were the first to really cultivate and some of their foods go back to 5500 BCE. The Northern tribes used sorghum and millet as well in their cooking. Meat was added for special occasions. The Chinese have always been associated with tea and no wonder. They were drinking it as early as 3330 BCE. Since meat was a rarity, ancient Chinese cooked with tofu or bean curd - and their dishes were similar to what is served today. There also were fortunate to have a variety of fruits and veggies such as lemons, apricots and cucumbers in their diets.

Our ancestors were foodies in their own right. They passed down some dishes and foods that we still use today. We may live in the modern age but our culinary traditions are rooted firmly in the past.