Ancient Greek Foods

The ancient Greeks had rather weird and uncommon ideas about their meals. All the meals in ancient Greece revolved around their religious beliefs and philosophical theories. The Greeks never consumed the meat of a domesticated animal, as they considered it to be barbaric. The only meat that was consumed was that of the animals that were either first scarified to god, or were hunted in the wild. The Greeks also never consumed milk in its raw form. The milk was first processed into normal cheese or cottage cheese and then consumed. In the ancient Greek food facts, it is often seen that the Greeks never consumed anything that was a part of the barbarian, nomads and the non-Greek diets.

The eating pattern of the ancient Greeks was also a bit different. The first meal of the day was the breakfast, that was eaten early in the morning. Large amounts of bread, vegetables and soups were used in this meal. The second meal was an early lunch, where again bread and vegetables were occasionally accompanied by meat or fish. Cheese and olives were used in generous quantities in these meals. The supper that was relished in the evening itself, was the main meal of the day. A majority of times, the supper consisted of many different fruits, vegetables, wines and bread. The following are some of the prominent ancient Greek food ingredients.

We often tend to believe that the ancient Greece geography, being mostly mountainous regions and barren islands, would have a very less choice of vegetables. However, the ancient Greek food recipes were highly innovative and made use of a huge range of vegetables

• Arugula
• Cucumbers
• Cabbages
• Bulbs
• Artichokes
• Garlic
• Cress
• Asparagus
• Fennel
• Cos lettuce, which is also known as Romaine
• Cardoons
• Carrots
Turnips
• Squash or marrows
• Leeks
• Wild celery
• Radishes

As mentioned above, the ancient Greek food also consisted of a lot of different types of fruit. Greece being a Mediterranean region, had a very good variety of fruit production and also cultivation.

• Grapes
• Olives
• Jujubes
• Bergamot oranges
• Figs
• Pears
• Quinces
• Plums
• Pomegranates
• Apples
• Carobs

Even though there was sparse presence of legume plants in these regions, ancient Greek food recipes made very good use of all the available legumes. Most of the times, legumes were collected from the wild. The cultivation of legumes was taken up only in later centuries.

• Beans
• Peas
• Lentils
• Chickpeas

As Greece was principally a coastal region, marine animals became an important part of the diet of the Greek people.

• Sardines
• Mullet
• Cuttlefish
• Boarfish
• Anchovies
• Rays
• Sea bass
• Squid
• Tuna
• Sprats
• Wrasse
• Crayfish
• Eels
• Grouper
• Octopus
• Prawns

Meat also formed a very important part of diet of the ancient Greeks, and was often produced by hunting the animals instead of slaughtering them.

• Goat
• Goose
• Boar
• Chicken
• Birds
• Pheasant
• Pork
• Deer
• Hare
• Lamb

Bread in ancient Greek food recipes, was made with help of a conventional baking process. The two most widely used ingredients for these bread recipes were:

• Wheat
• Barley

The ancient Greek food recipes were very tasty and were seasoned with many different herbs and spices.

• Pepper
• Dill
• Salt
• Thyme
• Saffron
• Coriander
• Mint
• Oregano

The ancient Greek food recipes were predominantly based on the vegetables, that were grown on the rocky and mountainous terrain of the Greek islands and the peninsula. It must be noted that several vegetables like potatoes or grains, like rice, were never introduced in ancient Greece, till the age of exploration began in the 16th century. On the basis of the available ancient Greek food facts, it can be concluded that the residents of Greece principally relied on bread, small amount of vegetables, wine and olives for their daily consumption. Many a times, especially in the coastal settlements, fish was also used as a staple diet by many people. Meat and fish was cooked in spits and ovens. It was also a common practice to sacrifice the animal in front of the god and then cook its meat. If not sacrificed, the animal was hunted. The Greeks often ate raw fruits and olives as side dishes with the regular meal. It was also a common practice to eat food with ones hands, as the concept of eating utensils had never existed then.