Culinary Time Travel

 Wouldn't it be something if we can time travel back to the past? Imagine the famed people we'd see or get to connect with ancestors we've only heard of in family lore? In a way you can, and it doesn't have to do with Einstein's theory of Time Constant. You can easily do it with cooking and baking.

Before you start pick an era that really sings to you. If you adore it, then odds are you've already tried recipes form that period of history. if not , there are a lot of eras to explore from a culinary side Everyone is jumping on the Paleo diet but what did real cave people eat? Luckily there's no cooking here. Our first ancestors were big fruit eaters, getting their nutrients from dates, oranges, apples and grapes. There were no roasted meats and veggies. That came later, by a few centuries. If you want really good eating then look to the Romans. They knew how to feast. They also created a forerunner of polenta called puls made with  a kind of wheat. It was served with veggies and cheese or eggs. Sometimes it was served with meat and fish on special occasions. Keep in mind that tomatoes and  potatoes along with corn were not introduced  until the Columbian Exchange The same goes for spinach and eggplant which came with the Arabs. Yet there was plenty of olive oil and bread so you could make focaccia and serve it with caramelized onions and leeks. The Romans were big on sausages, especially pork ones. You could create a dish with modern day polenta , tomatoes and sausage to recreate this.

Most home chefs have been to their local Renaissance fairs. These fun fests are not exactly an homage to the 1400's and 1500's. They serve fajitas and corn dogs along with pierogies and cotton candy so far away from the real recipes of that time. The Elizabethans were big on seafood such as lobsters and crab along with salmon and trout. Think lobster with butter  with maybe a side of salad (brought from Spain by Henry VIII's first wife the Spanish queen Catherine of Aragon). Chicken was also popular and you can easily roast one and serve it with homemade bread. The Europeans weren't the only ones with centuries of interesting dishes.African cuisine was mostly vegan for millennia, with cattle being held in high esteem, They relied on grains and vegetables for food. Think about making rice with a variety of different veggies such as eggplant or green beans. Amaranth flour was also used and it can be used to create various breads like the Ethiopian teff. The Ancient Egyptians took it a step further and had beer with their meals. They also had chickpeas and different veggies that easily can be made into a salad or grind the chickpeas into hummus.

Yes, you can time travel. Just find any recipe from the past and adapt it to fit modern cooking or baking. It's like a time capsule for your palate.