Welcoem to posts!!
in the future - u will be able to do some more stuff here,,,!! like pat catgirl- i mean um yeah... for now u can only see others's posts :c
If you think of beer as a manâs drink, youâve got it all wrong. Although we donât know who invented beer some 10,000 years ago, we do know that historyâs first home brewers were female and that the first tavern keepers who sold their beer were female too. The tradition of female beer brewers in Mesopotamia is also confirmed by this Sumerian proverb: âThe house where beer is never lacking: she is there!â
In a hymn to the beer goddess Ninkasi the worldâs oldest beer recipe was recorded some 4,000 years ago. With the help of scholars and professional brewers, Iâve recreated various brews inspired by this hymn for my upcoming cookbook Table of Gods. Should you want the instructions to brew them yourself, go to tableofgods.com/beer.
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What happens after death? I donât know the answer, but I can tell you what people in ancient Mesopotamia believed. Contrary to many modern religions, the afterlife in Mesopotamia was thought to be spent in hell, or as they called it, the underworld.
A dark place where people walked around like zombies with no food or drink. Which is why they buried the deceased with plenty of food, beer, and other necessities.
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Did the Assyrians invent sausages? Well, one of the worldâs oldest recipes, called Ashuriatu reads: âMeat is used. Prepare water. Add fat, garlic, intestines with [break in the tablet], blood, mashed leek, and garlic. It is ready to serve.â
While an Assyrian chef of the time would have known what to do with these ingredients, we need more context. Fortunately, thereâs another text revealing that Assyrians knew how to fill intestines with forcemeat. This is likely how 'meat is used' in this recipe.
But Assyrians didnât grill these filled intestines like modern sausages. Instead, they cooked them in broth, like most dishes in the worldâs oldest recipe collection. Get the recipe at tableofgods.com/sausage
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Akitu is one of the oldest festivals in history. And when I was in Iraq last year, I celebrated it on the same land the ancient Assyrians did 4,000 years ago.
The experience of marching with tens of thousands of Assyrians, singing and dancing dressed in traditional clothes, was just amazing. In the past, Akitu lasted over ten days, filled daily with activities and plentiful food which I write more about in my upcoming cookbook table of gods.
But while Akitu was restricted to ancient Mesopotamia in the past, today, this tradition has been brought all over the world. Akitu has always been celebrated at the beginning of April. And in Akkadian, the festival was referred to as rĂȘĆĄ ĆĄattim, meaning the beginning of the year, which evolved into modern Assyrian Resh Shato or Reesha D'Sheeta.
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Some people ask me what I think food tasted like in ancient Mesopotamia. When the same people try the food from my upcoming cookbook, Table of Gods, and find it delicious, they're almost suspicious. As if they were expecting it to taste bad.
I think food tasted better 4,000 years ago for people who lived then than it does for us today. The reason I believe this is the political and religious importance of food in ancient Mesopotamia. People believed they were created by the gods to serve them food and drink four times daily. Their survival depended on how well they satisfied their gods.
Chefs were naturally at the top of the social hierarchy and were compensated accordingly. Add to that numerous cooking schools, specialized crafts in the kitchen, and kings who frequently used food to forge alliances by hosting banquets for up to 70,000 guests.
Compare that with today, where food is often prepared with poor ingredients and cooked quickly to meet our caloric needs amid our stressful lives. How much better would your food taste if you cooked for the gods?
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Who was Ishtar? Ishtar or Inanna as the Sumerians called her, was the goddess of love and war. She was portrayed as a young goddess who didn't shy away from asserting her will, even at the cost of innocent livesâas demonstrated when she caused an earthquake in Uruk trying to kill Gilgamesh for refusing to marry her.
On the other hand, she was a goddess with a generous and forgiving heart, who risked visiting the underworld to seek her sister's forgiveness. I've been studying Mesopotamian history for the past six years while writing a cookbook inspired by the worldâs oldest recipes, and Ishtar is the deity who appears most frequently.
She protected cities such as Uruk and Nineveh, blessed kings like Zimri-Lim and Sargon of Akkad, and was the main character in several Mesopotamian myths. She also influenced the Greek goddess Aphrodite, the Roman goddess Venus, and possibly even the Norse goddess Freja. All share the same traits as Ishtar, embodying the dual aspects of love and war.
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On a hot day in southern Mesopotamia, a scribe took out his stylus and wrote historyâs first recipes on damp clay. 4,000 years later, Assyriologist Jean Bottero translated these recipes, and in 2019 I stumbled upon Bottero's book with his translation.
I ordered the book, read it in one sitting, and closed it with disappointment. There was no way I could make any of the recipes without more context. So I started diving into the culinary history of ancient Mesopotamia, and was astonished to learn that food first and foremost served the needs of the gods who ate four times daily.
The idea for Table of Gods was born with the goal of transporting you to the cradle of civilization via all your senses. Thus Table of Gods is not only a cookbook, itâs a time machine.
If you want to be notified when the book is available for pre-order, visit tableofgods.com/yt and join the waiting list (you'll also receive three of the recipes from the book to try immediately).
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Would you try this blood cake?đ©ž
Although eating blood may sound barbaric today, I was served blood pudding not long ago in a Swedish school. Blood is also a common ingredient in the world's oldest recipes, dating back to the 18th century BC. And itâs not that strange when you think about it. In a world without supermarkets, nothing was wasted. People consumed every part of the animal: intestines, bones, and blood.
One thing I realized eating this blood cake is that the flavor of blood is reminiscent of chocolate, which was unknown in ancient Mesopotamia. Topped with date syrup, this delicious blood cake is one of the recipes in my upcoming cookbook. Get the recipe at tableofgods.com/blood-cake
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3 Sumerian jokes
1. Something that has never occurred since time immemorial: a young woman did not fart in her husband's embrace.
2. For his pleasure he got married. On his thinking it over, he got divorced.Â
3. He who shaves his head acquires more hair. Okay, this is not a joke but itâs funny because my grandma always told my mom to shave my head when I was young so I would acquire more hair. Itâs hilarious that grandma and the Sumerians had the same idea about it.
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Have you ever heard about Assyro-African soups? In the 7th century BC, the Assyrian king Esarhaddon conquered Egypt and made the Assyrian Empire the largest the world had ever seen. From a cookbook author's point of view, this territorial expansion is fascinating because it introduced new ingredients to Assyrian cuisine, like okra, originating from Northeast Africa.
The Assyrians called okra 'ubanu,' meaning 'finger,' akin to the English term 'ladyâs fingers'. This Assyro-African soup from the 7th century BC is from my upcoming cookbook Table of Gods. Get the recipe at tableofgods.com/assyro-african-soup
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Uncovering the worldâs oldest recipes, cities, and stories â from ancient Mesopotamia.