Fruit and Vegetables in Ancient Egypt | Middle East And North Africa

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VEGETABLES IN ANCIENT EGYPT

glass and bronze grapes
Vegetables were eaten as a complement to the widely-eaten beer and bread; the most common were long-shooted green scallions and garlic but both also had medical uses. There was also lettuce, celery (eaten raw or used to flavor stews), certain types of cucumber and, perhaps, some types of Old World gourds. By Greco-Roman times there were turnips, but it is not certain if they were available before that period. Various tubers of sedges, including papyrus were eaten raw, boiled, roasted or ground into flour and were rich in nutrients. [Source Wikipedia]

Onions originated in Egypt. Egyptians believed that onions symbolized the many-layered universe. They swore oaths on onions like a modern-time Bible.

Purple peas were found in the tomb of King Tut. Cucumbers were known in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. They originated in the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India, where they have been cultivated for more than 3,000 years.

Radishes were cultivated by the ancient Egyptians at least 4,000 years ago. They were eaten with onions, and garlic by workers. Egyptians believed that radishes were aphrodisiacs. Leeks were also eaten in ancient Egypt.

Fruits in Ancient Egypt

The most common fruit were dates. There were also figs, grapes (and raisins), dom palm nuts (eaten raw or steeped to make juice), certain species of Mimusops, and nabk berries (jujube or other members of the genus Ziziphus). Figs were widely eaten and are high in sugar and protein. Unlike vegetables, which were grown year-round, fruit was more seasonal. Pomegranates and grapes would be brought into tombs of the deceased.

Figs, together with grapes, were grown at all periods in ancient Egypt. We meet with the fruit everywhere, and we also find representations of the trees in the old tombs. The fig-trees have thick gnarled trunks, and seem scarcely to reach five meters (16 feet) in height; their boughs however, are strong enough to allow the gardeners to climb up and gather the fruit into flat baskets. When the gardeners are unable to climb up into the trees themselves, they send tame monkeys into the branches to gather the fruit for them, as we see in the illustration below. [Source: Adolph Erman, “Life in Ancient Egypt”, 1894]

Melons are one the earliest crops along with wheat, barley, various legumes, grapes, dates, pistachios and almonds. Melons are native to Iran, Turkey and the western Asia. They are depicted in an Egyptian tomb painting from 2400 B.C., Greek documents from the 3rd century B.C. mention them. They were described by Pliny the Elder in the 1st century A.D.

Archaeology magazine reported: The wild African watermelon has white flesh and is largely inedible due to its bitterness. However, wall paintings from ancient Egyptian tombs depict what appear to be watermelons, which has led experts to speculate that the fruit may have been domesticated in a manner that made it more palatable. Now, DNA sequencing from a watermelon leaf found in a 3,500-year-old tomb in Luxor has shown that two of the melon’s genes were manipulated, causing it to develop red flesh and a sweet taste. This confirms that New Kingdom Egyptians did indeed cultivate watermelons similar to the ones we enjoy today. Archaeology magazine, September-October 2019]

In August 2021, scientists led by the French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio announced that they had discovered 2,400-year-old baskets of fruit in under the sea from the ancient Egyptian city of Thonis-Heracleion. The trove of artifacts from the site included wicker baskets filled with doum, fruit from an African palm tree, grape seeds, and Greek ceramics. Goddio told the Guardian that the fruit had been untouched for over 2000 years, calling the find "incredible. " [Source: Bethany Dawson, Business Insider, January 2, 2022]

Grape seeds have been found in 3,000-year-old mummies.

Persea Tree and Mimusops Fruit of Ancient Egypt

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carrying bread and other things
According to ancientfoods.wordpress.com: The name Persea stimulates the interest of all persons concerned with avocado in any manner, for it is the botanical designation of the genus in the botanical family Lauraceae which includes the avocado of commerce (Persea americana), the coyo or yas (Persea scheideana), and several other close botanical relatives such as the southern bay (Persea borbonia). The use of the term “Persea” for an entirely different plant belonging to another plant family can cause some confusion and often arouses the curiosity. The “persea” tree of Egypt is a case in point. This plant of North African origin with the botanical designation of Mimusops schimperi belongs to the botanical family Sapotaceae, which includes such fruit bearing plants as Achras zapota, the sapodilla, Calocarpum mammosum, the mamey, and Calocarpum viride, the green sapote of Central America. Mimusops schimperi resembles a pear tree in general in leaf, flower and form, but is evergreen. The fruit is as large as a pear, oblong to almond-shaped, grass green in color, and has a stone like a plum. The flesh is “sweet, luscious and wholesome. ” This persea is “believed to be unique to Egypt and Ethiopia.” [Source Ancientfoods, May 2, 2012]

An interesting account of the Egyptian persea is given by Darby in his discussion of Food: The Gift of Osiris. Various interpretations are described concerning the significance of the “sacred” tree in Egyptian, which often depicted kings protected by its foliage or emerging from it. The high esteem which was afforded this tree is indicated by a law passed under Emperor Arcadius forbidding the uprooting or sale of any persea tree in Egypt.

The association of the name Persea is derived from the Greek mythological hero Perseus and suggests that the tree may have been in Egypt since some very early period. Perseus, of Greek legend, was the son of Danea and Zeus. Among many exploitations and experiences he stole an eye and a tooth which was shared by three hags. Finally he acquired the helmet of Hades which rendered him invisible. This allowed him to approach the Gorgon Medusa as she slept, whence he cut off Medusa’s head, gave it to Athena, and then fled to Ethiopia. There he delivered Andromeda from a sea serpent and later married her. Such is an abbreviated account of the great mythological Greek god. The name Perseus was also applied early in astronomical literature as it refers to a northern constellation between Taurus and Cassiopeia.

Specimens of the Egyptian persea Mimusops have been found in tombs at Illahoun (twelfth dynasty) and in wreaths around the mummy of Rameses II at Saqqara (third dynasty), and in the tomb of Tut-ankh-Amon. Persea was a name associated with the ancient Egyptian tree long before it was employed as the genus for the avocado. It is an old Greek name used by Theophrastus as the common name of Mimusops ca 320 B.C. Persea as the genus for the avocado of the New World was made by Miller in 1754.

Dates, Spices and Olives in Ancient Egypt

The ancient Egyptians, Phoenicians, Greeks, and Romans all consumed olives and olive oil. Olives were first cultivated in Palestine around 4000 B.C. and spread to Syria and Turkey and reached the ancient Egypt around 1500 B.C. (the Egyptian were using olive purchased from Palestine long before that). In ancient times, olive oil was used in everything from oil lamps, to religious anointments, to cooking and preparing condiments and medicines. It was in great demand and traveled well and people like the Philistines grew rich trading it.

Dates would either be dried/dehydrated or eaten fresh. Dates were sometimes even used to ferment wine and the poor would use them as sweeteners. According to an old Egyptian saying "A date palm is the only creation of God that resembles man. Unlike other trees, a date palm gives more as it grows older."

Egyptians flavored their food with sea salt, thyme, marjoram and essences of fruit and nuts, particularly almonds. Saffron was known in ancient Egypt. Stigmas have been found in Egyptian mummies and Cleopatra used in her cosmetics. The ancient Egyptians believed that licorice was an aphrodisiac. King Tut ate licorice root before engaging his queen.

Garlic was consumed by the ancient Egyptians and Greeks. The Romans regarded it as a food for the lower classes. The pyramid builders ate lot of onions and garlic. One of the first recorded strikes occurred when their garlic ration was reduced. A slave, records show, could be bought for seven kilograms of garlic.

Watermelons in Ancient Egypt

Watermelon plants are trailing ground vines with small yellow flowers and large deeply-notched leaves. Watermelons require a long growing season and high temperatures. There are a wide variety of watermelons. The ones eaten in the United States are large and long. The ones favored in Asia are almost perfectly round and a little bit smaller than soccer balls. Most have sweet red flesh and black seeds that are sometimes roasted and eaten a snacks. Some have orange flesh.

Archaeological and genetic evidence indicates that domesticated watermelons with sweet, red flesh were grown and eaten in ancient Egypt at least 3,500 years ago. Paintings on the walls of at least three Egyptian tombs depict striped melons that closely resemble modern watermelons. In addition, watermelon leaves were discovered on a mummy in a tomb dating to about 1500 B.C., providing physical evidence of the fruit's presence in ancient Egypt. [Source: Michael Le Page, New scientist.com, 2019]

To learn more about these ancient watermelons, researchers analyzed DNA from one of the preserved leaves. The specimen had been collected during the 19th century and stored at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, where it remained undisturbed for more than a century. Although researchers recovered only a partial genome, it included two key genes that revealed important characteristics of the fruit.

One gene controls the production of cucurbitacins, the bitter compounds found in wild watermelons. The ancient Egyptian watermelon carried a mutation that disabled this gene, indicating that the fruit had sweet, non-bitter flesh. Another gene normally converts the red pigment lycopene into another compound. Because this gene was also inactive, lycopene accumulated in the fruit, producing red flesh similar to that of modern watermelons.

The partial DNA sequence could not determine the size or exact shape of the fruit. However, one of the Egyptian tomb paintings shows an elongated watermelon resembling modern cultivated varieties, suggesting that many important domestication traits had already developed by about 1500 B.C.

Genetic comparisons also showed that the ancient Egyptian watermelon was closely related to a traditional sweet, white-fleshed watermelon still grown in the Darfur region of Sudan. These findings support the view that watermelon was first domesticated in northeastern Africa, probably in present-day Sudan, before spreading northward along the Nile into Egypt, where further selection produced the sweet, red-fleshed varieties familiar today.

Genetic Studies Suggest Watermelons Originated in Sudan

Recent genetic research suggests that the closest wild relative of the modern watermelon is the Kordofan melon (Citrullus lanatus), which grows in the Kordofan region of Sudan. The findings indicate that the modern cultivated watermelon likely originated in northeastern Africa rather than West Africa, as some earlier theories proposed. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences in 2021. [Source: Veronique Greenwood, New York Times, May 28, 2021]

For many years, scientists believed that the West African egusi melon, which is grown mainly for its seeds, was the closest ancestor of cultivated watermelons. However, researchers compared the genomes of seven Citrullus species and found that the Kordofan melon shares a much closer genetic relationship with modern watermelons than any other known wild relative. Like cultivated watermelons, the Kordofan melon has non-bitter flesh, although its interior is white rather than red.

The findings also help explain ancient Egyptian artwork. A painting in the tomb of Khnumhotep at Saqqara, dating to about 4,300 years ago, depicts a large, striped melon among other fruits. Because the Kordofan region lies relatively close to the Nile Valley, researchers believe the painting may represent an early cultivated watermelon or a closely related form derived from Kordofan melons. Other archaeological evidence, including an Egyptian papyrus dating to about 4,450 years ago, also depicts a watermelon-like fruit, suggesting that sweet melons were consumed in ancient Egypt.

The Kordofan melon has long attracted scientific interest. During the late 19th century, a German botanist suggested that it might be the ancestor of the modern watermelon, and Soviet researchers later proposed the same idea. Most wild species in the genus Citrullus produce bitter fruits, but the Kordofan melon has naturally sweet, non-bitter flesh, making it a likely candidate for early domestication. Researchers believe that ancient farmers selected and cultivated sweeter plants over many generations, eventually producing the large, sweet watermelons grown today.

Scientists are continuing to study the origins of watermelon by analyzing ancient melon seeds recovered from archaeological sites in Africa. They hope to determine when and where people first domesticated the species. The Kordofan melon is also valuable for modern breeding because it contains forms of disease-resistance genes that differ from those found in commercial watermelon varieties.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons, The Louvre, The British Museum, The Egyptian Museum in Cairo

Text Sources: UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, escholarship.org ; Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Egypt sourcebooks.fordham.edu ; Tour Egypt, Minnesota State University, Mankato, ethanholman.com; Mark Millmore, discoveringegypt.com discoveringegypt.com; Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Geographic, Smithsonian magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Discover magazine, Times of London, Natural History magazine, Archaeology magazine, The New Yorker, BBC, Encyclopædia Britannica, Time, Newsweek, Wikipedia, Reuters, Associated Press, The Guardian, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, “World Religions” edited by Geoffrey Parrinder (Facts on File Publications, New York); “History of Warfare” by John Keegan (Vintage Books); “History of Art” by H.W. Janson Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, N.J.), Compton’s Encyclopedia and various books and other publications.

Last updated August 2024