Eat Like a Pharaoh

Ancient Egyptian cooking is a subject that has inspired readers to find out more about the different dishes that make the Egyptian kitchen—ancient and present—unique. Exploring this topic is as challenging as it is interesting. But while there may exist many depictions and images on temples and tomb walls that describe in detail the pharaonic home and kitchen, as well as the kinds of foods offered on almost all occasions from the dawn of the Predynastic era, the ancient Egyptians did not leave behind any recipes. As such it remains difficult, as one can imagine,

to specify weights, measurements, and methods of preparation with any clear precision.

Due to the specific cultural heritage of each area, ways of cooking may differ from one place to another, helping to individualize that region despite the similarity of ingredients. In Lower Egypt, or the Delta, for example, there has been a consecutive influence of Greeks and Romans, foreign immigration,

All of these have directly impacted food and cooking habits as well as recipe variations, and the modern Egyptian kitchen in this region is the outcome of these influences.

But this has not been the case with southern Egypt (Upper Egypt and Nubia), where cooking methods and ingredients have likely remained

unchanged since the days of the pharaohs due to the relative lack of foreign influences in the area. Very early on in the project it quickly became apparent that cooking methods in Upper Egypt and Nubia—regions that have always been strongly insular, adhering closely to ancient cultures and inherited traditions—have retained a pharaonic influence in their simplicity, their tendency to use few ingredients and spices, and their preference for vegetables, grains, spices, and herbs indigenous to the region.

s noted earlier, the ancient Egyptians left few if any recipes, so the ingredients in this course have been slightly modified to suit modern tastes. While certain foods were not introduced into Egypt until after the pharaonic age (including sugar, lemon, tomatoes, chicken, and chilli, among others), they have found their way into the modern-day southern Egyptian kitchen.

The Pharaoh’s Kitchen has been compiled with the aim of thoroughly exploring ancient Egyptian cooking, from both historical and social perspectives.

Home and Kitchen Pharaonic Homes

Ancient Egyptian houses differed according to the social and economic class of their residents, ranging from small, basic structures for peasants and laborers to more elaborate homes for artists, priests, and men of state, villas for nobles, and palaces for kings.