Ancient Sumer – Eating Habits

The Sumerians were the first culture to stop hunting and gather food and start farming. Like many other inventions that the Sumerian culture gave to the world, they also contributed to agriculture and food. Sumerian food consisted mainly of barley.

The raw material for most Sumerian food was barley, barley cakes and barley paste were accompaniments to all main meals. Wheat and millet were other raw materials used in Sumerian food. Agriculture produced vegetables and fruits, chickpeas, lentils, beans, onion, garlic, leeks, cucumbers, watercress, mustard, and fresh green lettuce that were part of early Sumerian food. The Sumerians were the first culture to settle down and leave the previous nomadic lifestyle. With the settlement, they began to domesticate animals for food and work. Goat milk and meat, eggs, pork; Wild birds, deer, and venison were also an integral part of the Sumerians’ food.

The everyday Sumerian food was probably barley cakes with onions and beans washed down with barley beer. The fish that swarmed in the rivers of Mesopotamia were also an important source of food. More than fifty different types of fish are mentioned in early texts dating back to before 2300 BC and fried fish sellers had a thriving trade in the city of Ur. Food stalls also sold onions, cucumbers, goat, lamb and freshly roasted pork. Meat was more popular and common in large cities compared to sparsely populated towns, as it spoiled in the heat. Cattle were only slaughtered for consumption when they were near the end of their working lives.

Information on Sumerian food can be obtained from archeology and records written on cuneiform tablets. These sources also indicated the importance of barley and wheat cakes as a staple diet along with cereal and legume soups, onion, leek, garlic and melon. In addition to cultivated vegetables, Sumerian food also included fruits. They were apples, figs, and grapes. Various culinary herbs and honey and cheese, butter, and vegetable oil have also been mentioned in later Sumerian food records. The Sumerians often drank beer and sometimes wine as well. The preservation of food products has also been developed by salting meats and preserving fruits in honey. Several other fruits, including apples, were dried for preservation and a fermented cause is also mentioned in Akkadian texts.

Rice and corn were unknown in ancient Mesopotamia, so barley and its flour were the Sumerian staple food. Their bread was coarse, flat, and unleavened, although an expensive version was made with finer flour. Pieces of this bread were found in the tomb of Queen Puabi of Ur, which were left there for her sustenance in the afterlife. The breads were enriched with butter, milk and cheese, sesame seeds and even fruits and their juices. Later records show that truffles are also made. With the advent of irrigation canals, lush fruit and vegetable farms were found in abundance with fruits such as blackberries, pears, plums, cherries and pomegranates. The most important food crop in southern Mesopotamia was the date palm. Goats, cows, and sheep were domesticated for milk; geese and ducks for eggs and some 50 varieties of fish were a Sumerian staple food. Meats were cooked by roasting, boiling, grilling or broiling, and preserved by drying, smoked, or salted.