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Industry : Food Processing
Food Processing
Food was very important to the ancient Egyptians. Although the tomb and temple scenes depict a variety of meat, fish, bread, cakes, fruit, vegetables, wine, and beer, the staple diet of most of the population was bread, beer, and some vegetables, with perhaps the addition of fish they caught themselves. Agriculture supplied the cereals, fruit, and vegetables, the great estates also provided meat and milk products, and hunting expeditions augmented the diet of the ruling classes. Butchery is depicted in tomb and temple scenes, but meat was generally a luxury that ordinary people only enjoyed on feast days, since it had to be consumed rapidly after the animal was slaughtered. The fishing industry was well organized, and there were farms and breeding grounds, many of which were located in the Fayoum. Teams of fishermen worked in the marshes laying the trawl nets and fish traps to catch a variety of fish to tempt the palates of royalty and the nobility. Poor people were also able to enjoy the fish they caught themselves.
BREADThe
production of bread and beer was obviously of paramount importance.
Bread was an essential part of every meal, and many different types
are listed on the walls of tombs and temples. Although no recipe
book has ever been discovered, it is most probable that these
varieties were differentiated by their shapes (oval, round, or
conical) and by the flours and ingredients which gave them special
flavors. It is known that barley, spelt, and wheat were used and
that honey, butter, milk, and eggs provided additional ingredients.
Bread making was held in high esteem. It was usually carried out at
home, and from the time of the New Kingdom a wealthy household would
have employed its own baker. There were also bakeries on the great
estates to supply the considerable needs of the owner and his
servants. Scenes in mastaba tombs show how the bread was made.
First, the grain was crushed in great mortars by one or two men who
pounded it with heavy pestles. Then, to obtain a finer flour, this
coarse flour was ground on a big stone or rubbed between two stones.
There are tomb models showing women engaged in this work; in the Old
Kingdom the woman kneeled in front of a stone placed on the ground,
but in the Middle Kingdom she stood behind a hollowed- out table.
This acted as the lower stone and made her work easier. Next the
flour was sieved and the dough, prepared and kneaded. The dough was
made of flour, milk, and other ingredients and was either kneaded by
hand or, in the larger bakeries, it was trodden by servants in a
great tub. It was then fashioned into various shapes and cooked in
different ways. Some cakes were fried in a large pan while others
were baked on the stove. In early times the bread was baked on
pottery dishes which were heated in the fire, but later in the New
Kingdom a conical oven was introduced which enabled greater
quantities to be cooked more quickly. These clay ovens were about
three feet in height and open at the top.
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BEERBeer, the
favorite drink of the Egyptians, was frequently mentioned in the
ancient texts as one of the offerings made to the gods and the dead.
The earliest references occur at the beginning of the Old Kingdom.
There were different sorts of beer even in the earliest periods, and
residues have even been found in jars of predynastic date. The
classical writers also mentioned it: Strabo related that “barley
beer” was peculiar to the Egyptians, and Diodorus claimed that its
smell and sweetness of taste were “not much inferior to wine.” The
process of brewing beer is shown in several tomb scenes, and it was
apparently always closely associated with baking bread as this was
an essential element in its production. There are also tomb models
that illustrate various stages in the process. The beer was prepared
from well-selected, fine barley. This was macerated with water and
left out in the air; it was moistened again and sieved and then
ground and kneaded into a dough. Next, it was lightly baked to turn
it into bread and then soaked in water; dates may have been added at
this stage to sweeten the mixture. Then, it was put in a warm place
to allow fermentation to occur and finally squeezed through a cloth
or fine sieve so that the sweet liquid could be drained off into a
pot. Various plants may have been added to the beer to flavor it,
but some of these appear to have been medicinal treatments for which
the beer acted as a vehicle rather than actual flavoring
ingredients. Beer from Asia, imported and consumed alongside the
home product, was probably a luxury item and only available in small
quantities.
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WINEWine was
another popular drink of the Egyptians. Grapevines were carefully
cultivated and trained over trelliswork supported by wooden forks or
pillars. The grapes were picked and taken in baskets to the
winepress, which consisted of a low box with a wooden framework
erected over it. The box was filled with the grapes, and five or six
men trampled them while holding onto the framework structure. The
wine was pressed out and ran through a series of openings into large
vats. The sweet juice left behind in the grapes was squeezed out by
placing the grapes inside a matting sack. This was then wrung out by
four men by twisting the sticks placed in the loops at either end of
the matting. Finally, the wine was transferred from the vats to
pottery jars, which were fastened and sealed, and scribes recorded
the number of jars that had been filled. It is known that different
wines were produced, but no details of special procedures have
survived.
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Industry : Food Processing
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