The oven was a squat, beehive-shaped clay mound about three feet tall, fitted with internal shelving and with a hole at the base designed to allow the removal of ash. It was principally used to bake bread, although food could also be cooked in a saucepan placed on the flat oven-top, and the cook sat or squatted in front of the mouth of the oven while preparing her food. Those who preferred to cook on an open fire used a tripod-like contraption
Fig. 14 Woman baking
while boiling and roasting, and were able to bake directly in the embers of the fire. Contemporary illustrations suggest that the oven was occasionally situated on the roof of the house although, bearing in mind the ever-present risk of fire, this seems unnecessarily dangerous; it may be that the artists intended to depict the ovens outside the houses but that differences in artistic approach and perspective have led to misinterpretations by modern eyes. Archaeological evidence certainly confirms that ovens and cooking fires were often situated away from the home, presumably to reduce discomfort from the heat and smoke of cooking as well as the associated risk of fire. For example, at Amarna the kitchens were built on the eastern side of the houses and were connected to the living quarters by means of a covered passageway. Where the oven or fire was inside the house it was generally positioned well away from the door, and the kitchen roofing was provided with airholes to allow some of the heat, smoke and smells to escape upwards. Even so, the atmosphere in the enclosed kitchen must at times have seemed unbearably hot.
They live on bread made of spelt which they form into loaves… they eat many kinds of fish raw, either salted or dried in the sun. Quails also, and ducks, and small birds, they eat uncooked, merely first salting them. All other birds, with the exception of those which are set apart as sacred, are eaten roasted or boiled.
Herodotus’ comments on the Egyptian diet
The provision of a good and plentiful supply of food and drink for the family and its guests was one of the most important duties of the housewife and one which, if performed efficiently, could bring both pleasure and honour to the whole household.3 Almost all peoples enjoy eating a well-cooked and tasty meal with congenial companions, but the Egyptians seem to have been inordinately fond of feasting, drinking and entertaining their friends at home. If the numerous dire warnings against gluttony recorded in the scribal instructions are considered in conjunction with the scenes of epicurean banquets preserved on tomb walls, it would appear certain that the most direct route to the Egyptian man’s heart was via his somewhat bulging stomach. The blatant overeating of the sedentary upper classes was clearly a cause of concern to the more abstemious members of the population:
When you sit down to eat in company shun the foods you love. Restraint only needs a moment’s effort, whereas gluttony is base and is reproved. A cup of water will quench your thirst and a mouthful of herbs will strengthen your heart… Vile is he whose belly still hungers when the meal time has passed.
Old Kingdom scribal advice
This enviable ability to overeat was a direct result of Egypt’s efficient administration of her much-admired natural resources. Egypt, rightly described by Herodotus as the ‘gift of the Nile’, was an extraordinarily fertile country teeming with edible wild plants and animals and home to a flourishing agricultural economy which year after year yielded vast supplies of grain and meat. Famine among the lower classes, a direct result of the failure of the inundation, was certainly not unknown during the Dynastic period but it was a relatively rare disaster, and the mountains of grain hoarded during the good years were generally sufficient insurance against the future lean. Even the largest of the Egyptian towns and cities was closely linked with the countryside, so that all the population were able to enjoy year-round access to a healthy variety of seasonal fresh foodstuffs.
The availability of high-quality food had a direct effect upon the evolution of Egyptian culinary techniques, with the top chefs consistently favouring very simple recipes, relying on the quality and freshness of their ingredients to produce appetizing dishes and showing no urge to experiment with adventurous sauces or elaborate combinations of tastes and textures. This fortunate situation may be contrasted with the problems faced by the ancient Roman chefs who, isolated from fresh food by a combination of distance, bad transport links and lack of refrigeration, were forced to devise spicy and highly flavoured dressings and sauces to disguise the repetitive nature of a diet monotonously high in preserved and often slightly rancid foods. The Egyptians had no need to mask the natural flavours of their ingredients and, with the possible exception of stews or soups, the food remained plain and unadorned; it was the variety of different dishes served together which tempted the Egyptian tastebuds. There was therefore little culinary experimentation; contemporary illustrations and the works of later classical authors show that boiling was regarded as the traditional and most fuel-efficient method of cooking meat and vegetables while baking was used for bread and honey- or date-sweetened cakes. Fowl were usually roasted on a skewer and both meat and fish were occasionally grilled.