Ancient Greek Food
Food, for the Greeks, had all sorts of religious and philosophical meaning. The Greeks, to begin with, never ate meat unless it had been sacrificed to a god, or had been hunted in the wild. They believed that it was wrong to kill and eat a tame, domesticated animal without sacrificing it to the gods. Even with vegetables, many Greeks believed that particular foods were cleaner or dirtier, or that certain gods liked certain foods better than others. The Pythagoreans, for example, would not eat beans. But even if you were not a Pythagorean, the Greeks tended to think of the god Dionysos whenever they drank wine (which was often), and to think of Demeter and Persephone whenever they ate bread.
The Greeks ate mainly the Mediterranean triad, wheat (or barley or millet), wine, and olive oil. They also grew vegetables, especially legumes (lentils, beans, peas, chickpeas). Possibly they ate more fish than most other Mediterranean people. Also, because of their feelings about sacrificing meat, they may have eaten meat less than other people did.
To find out more about Greek food, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your local library:
Food and Feasts in Ancient Greece, by Imogen Dawson (1995). For kids - both a general discussion of how food was used in Ancient Greece, and some recipes.
Spend the Day in Ancient Greece : Projects and Activities that Bring the Past to Life, by Linda Honan (1998). Also for kids, with recipes for a Greek feast.
Food in the Ancient World A-Z, by Andrew Dalby (2003). Not a kids' book, but pretty easy going.
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