In ancient Egypt, what would pharaoh feed his guests?
Same as most rulers, the very best his land and wealth had to offer. And??? Plenty of it! “The Ancient Egyptians lived well. Although they left no recipe books, we can still get a good idea of what the pharaohs and their people may have eaten from the wall paintings in their tombs, the meals they buried with the dead to ensure that they did not go hungry in the next world, and from the tales of travellers such as the Greek Herodotus.” —Food Fit for Pharaohs: An Ancient Egyptian Cookbook, Michelle Berriedale-Johnson [British Museum Press:London] 1999 (p. 7) The feast given by King Mereptah in his eighth year for the Festival of Opet served these items: fish (filleted and salted), oxen, ducks (spit roasted), oryx, gazelle (basted in honey), beans, sweet oils (for sauces), celery, parsley, leeks, lettuce, bread, pommegranates, grapes, jujubes, honey cakes, heads of garlic, figs, beer and wine. —Ancient Lives: Daily Life in Egypt of the Pharaohs, John Romer [Holt, Rinehart and Winston:
