Tag: Food

Byzantine Cuisine –And Now Dessert

Dessert is an apt conclusion to the series on food. Desserts, including sweetmeats and honey cakes were eaten by the higher classes, including koptoplakous, the ancestor to baklava still eaten in Greece today. It would have certainly been on Theophana’s table:

Theophana smiled indulgently at her. She seemed to be in an especially good humor. “Since Constantine will not be returning, I think it best that we look elsewhere to marry you. There are so many good matches to be had for a young woman of your position in the world and I hardly think any suitor will find your looks displeasing or wanting. Now,” She picked up a two-tined fork and prodded a dish in which lay koptoplakous in golden, honeyed splendor. “Won’t you try this, Davit? It is very good.” She smiled at him. Normally the koptoplakous, filled with nuts and honey, soaked with bay leaves and resting between layers of pastry would have made Sophia’s mouth water. She watched as a servant prepared to cut and serve the sweetmeat. Theophana’s eyes were bright with anticipation, but Sophia did not think it was the koptoplakous that inspired her.

Speaking of forks, to the imperial family the fork would have been a recognizable implement, yet still hundreds of years away from regular use in Western Europe. The wife of the Holy Roman Emperor in the West, Otto II was a Byzantine princess. (Her name was Theophano Sclerina and she was a member of the Scleros family. Not to be confused with my fictional Theophana nor to the historical Theophano who was mother to the emperors Basil II and Constantine VIII). She used a fork as a matter of course at a banquet in 972 in Germany and caused no little astonishment (and perhaps scorn) to her Western in-laws.

If women were present at banquets, they were most often served at a separate table. Then as now, social rules might often be disregarded however. Women’s social standing in the Byzantine Empire presents an interesting subject for another article outside the scope of this one. They were certainly excused from post dinner festivities which were often the venue for riotous drinking and dancing girls.

A whole book could be written regarding the gastronomic and culinary delights of the middle Byzantine empire and suffice to say there is not room in a blog. Food says much about a culture. What could food say about the Byzantines? That they enjoyed fine food in an age when much of the world dined on simpler fare, perhaps? Or does it say something about the abundance of the empire during the reigns of Basil II and his brother Constantine? Basil II was known to give special preference in taxation to the common farmers versus the large plantation farms of the nobility. He recognized that agriculture was the foundation of his empire. Truly the Byzantines have bequeathed to us a legacy not least of which was their food. Perhaps except for the garum.

I highly recommend reading from these resources:

Daily Life in the Byzantine Empire by Marcus Rautman

The Book of the Eparch

Geoponika (translated by Thomas Owen)

Let me know your thoughts below.

 

Byzantine Cuisine – Drink and Tavernas

An example of a Roman thermopolium

The poor of the cities were often discouraged from cooking in their own homes, often shabby flats, for fear of fire. For this purpose, Roman fast food joints known as thermopolia, sprang up. Here common people could obtain a hot meal for a cheap price. The tavernas also catered to the common people. Here you could buy alcohol as well as a hot meal. For a bronze follis or two you could obtain salted fish, beans and coarse black bread, washed down with cheap acidic wine. If you had a few extra folles you might also be able to obtain the attentions of the dancing girls, as prostitution was often one of the services offered by the tavernas, in spite of the supposed prudery of the times. An effort was made to limit the time tavernas could be open to prevent mischief especially on Sundays and during Lent. Even so, tavernas continued to offer diversions such as dice, singing, cock fights and of course sexual entertainment.

If you had enough coin, you could afford a specialty drink such as phouska. Those who catered to foreign tastes, might offer the drinks of their choice. The Norse Varangians from Russia and Scandinavia as well as Anglo Saxons, disenfranchised after the Norman Conquest in England, favored the strong fermented honey drink, mead and so as men from the northern lands flooded Constantinople in search of a position in the famed Varangian Guard, honey mead came to be a popular offering in the tavernas. A Varangian might have lingered for a while in such a taverna, as Sven does here:

Sven found himself again in a taverna as the late afternoon light lengthened the shadows. He hurt all over. He turned again to wine for solace, as well as a favorite past time of his: listening to the conversations of others. The taverna keeper lit the oil lamps swaying from the rafters on their chains. Sven basked in the glow they cast over the well-worn wooden tables and benches. He liked tavernas. They stank of wine and reeked of the odor of unwashed humanity. But they were pleasant places overall for people watching. Two infantrymen played at dice in a corner for bronze coins. Men creaked over the wooden floor boards, rattling the tables and making the wine slosh in his cup. Behind him, three men sat down at a bench opposite the door. Without looking at them, he could tell they were better educated and better paid than most of the men within the confines of the establishment. He could tell that one man was quite a bit younger than the others, but higher in status. They all spoke a higher dialect of Greek, not the peasant variety spoken by most others there. They ordered better wine than he himself drank. It was phouska, a drink flavored with cumin, anise, fennel and thyme. It had never been to his taste. He closed his eyes and sipped his own harsh wine. 

The ambassador, Liutprand of Cremona mentioned in a previous post who objected to garum,  also did not care for Byzantine wine which he described as “mixed with pitch, resin, and plaster was to us undrinkable”.  Perhaps the ambassador was merely difficult to please.   He must have been alone in his assessment, as Byzantine wines were much favored by Western Europeans.  He may have been referring to Retsina, a type of wine that got its unique flavor from sealing the wine jars with pine resin.

Next we will look at dessert, everyone’s favorite! Let me know your thoughts below.

Sources:

The Complete Works of Liudprand of Cremona (Medieval Texts in Translation) Liudprand (Bishop of Cremona)

Tastes of Byzantium : The Cuisine of a Legendary Empire by Andrew Dal

Daily Life in the Byzantine Empire by Marcus Rautman

 

 

Byzantine Cuisine – Bread and Eggs

Vegetables were eaten by citizens of the Eastern Roman Empire and in a wide variety. Most of them were well know to the modern diet, such as cabbage, carrots and greens. Artichokes were well known and Antioch was famous for its cucumbers. Melons were cheap and readily available. Lentils were a staple in the diet of the poor. Those that could afford them seasoned their food with spices, some brought in from Asia. These included cinnamon, caraway, cardamom, cumin, ginger, nutmeg, saffron, pepper, clove, coriander, among many others that can still be find in our spice cabinets today, though now far more easily and cheaply obtained. Those with less money would use onions, leeks and garlic for seasoning their food. Eggs were favored by all classes and came from hens, geese and pheasants. The Byzantine omelet known as the sphoungata was stuffed with olives and goat cheese and perhaps chickpeas salted and cooked in olive oil. It would even have been on the table of the Emperor himself as mentioned in The Serpentine Key:

Little else was said as servants came in bringing great dishes of food. First came the platters of delicate cheese and also sphoungata, omelets made with olives and goat cheese. Anna picked up her spoon and found she had no desire to eat. For the time being, all talk of politics was dropped. Now was the time for the repast and no polite host spoke of business or politics until the figs and pomegranates had been brought forth. Alfaar looked hungrily at the great quantities of food placed on the table. A steaming platter of fish, surrounded by quail stuffed with their own eggs was set before them. Their cups were always kept filled with wine.

Bread has always been a staple of the diet as long as there have been civilization. White bread was the choice for the higher up, while dark bread served to feed the masses. Rye, barley and millet made the “dirty” bread known as ryparos. Flour of any kind was stored in earthenware jars to protect it from insects and rodents. Farm families baked their own bread and in the cities bread was mass produced in bakeries.

In any case, it seems the Byzantine diet was a varied one. While garum might not appeal to, there would have been plenty of food that would and would have been familiar to us.  Constantine originally provided bread rations to every citizen of Constantinople, but as the city grew, it became increasingly difficult to keep up with this demand. Hunger did not seem to be as much an issue as it was in other parts of Europe. While there were ninety-five famines in Britain alone in the medieval period, there seems to be little record of similar widespread devastation in the Eastern Roman Empire.  The comparative mildness of the Mediterranean climate may have had something to do with it, but also the relative political stability as well may have been a contributing factor.

Next time we will look at alcoholic beverages favored by those who lived in the Byzantine Empire. Let me know your thoughts below!

Sources: Everyday Life in the Byzantine Empire by Marcus Rautman

What life was like amid splendor and intrigue: Byzantine Empire, AD 330-1453 by Ellen Anker, Time Life Books

Byzantine Cuisine – Meat and Fish Sauce

Since I mention food so often in my books, and I have spent so much time researching Byzantine cuisine, I thought the food of the time period would make an interesting article. Eating is a subject is of prime interest to everyone. Not only is it important for sustenance, but it occupies a space in human life that comprises a social aspect. It was no less important to the people of the middle Byzantine period. Food in Byzantium was abundant and of a particular quality few in Western Europe enjoyed at the time. Even the poor often ate better than some better off individuals might have eaten at the same time in say, England. Nevertheless, meat occupied a place of more prominence on the table of the upper middle class than it did the poor, and even then, meat such as beef was not often served. Cattle were more often used for dairy and draft animals. As Constantinople and indeed much of the Empire was in some way close to the sea, one should not be surprised to find that much of the diet was comprised of seafood. All manner of shellfish, mackerel, tuna and mullet were among the general bounty of the Mediterranean. The Eastern Roman Empire, while not as vast as the Roman Empire had been before the split, covered a good piece of real estate and the diets of the inhabitants would be varied according to the culture at that particular time and place. Even in Constantinople, much of the customs regarding food were influenced by Arab cuisine. Constantinople was a cosmopolitan place akin to cities like New York or London today. There were many cultures and languages flowing in and out of her gates daily. From the south and the east came traders bring goods such as spices and dates from India, from Arabia and Africa. Honey was brought in from the Baltic countries, and pickled herring from the North Sea. Figs and pomegranates were brought from the Aegean coast and Anatolia supplied grapes, pears and apples that were much sought after. From the coast of the Euxine Sea (Black Sea) came hyssop, aloes and asafetida as well as fish roe. The rest of the western world was befuddled by the Byzantine predilection for salads. Interestingly, there is no mention of coffee in Byzantine sources, though it seems they would have been familiar with it from close association with the Arabs. Perhaps they did not care for it.

While there was of course the usual care taken to comply with requirements of Lent, the well off diner could expect to eat three meals a day, the latter two consisting of three courses. Even the better off in Western Europe rarely ate more than two meals a day, the largest being at midday.

The fish sauce known as garum was well known and widely consumed, though the best garum was produced for only those who could afford it. Garum, sometimes also known as liquamen was apparently an acquired taste. Either you loved it or you hated it. In simplest terms, it was the fermented innards of fatty fish such as anchovies, sardines and mackerel. Mixed with salt, pepper and old wine it was left in the sun for two to three months, after which it was served mixed with oil or wine. A tenth century Byzantine collection of agricultural lore, the Geoponika, gives the following description for the manufacture of garum:

What is called liquamen is thus made: the intestines of fish are thrown into a vessel, and are salted; and small fish, especially atherinae, or small mullets, or maenae or lycostomi, or any small fish, are all salted in the same manner; and they are seasoned in the sun, and frequently turned; and when they have been seasoned in the heat, the garum is thus taken from them. A small basket of close texture is laid in the vessel filled with the small fish already mentioned, and the garum will flow into the basket; and they take up what has been percolated through the basket, which is called liquamen; and the remainder of the feculence is made into allec.

This mixture sounds foul to our modern palate, but fetched a high price in the markets of Constantinople. It was obviously not to everyone’s taste. Liutprand of Cremona, an ambassador from the Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, disapproved of his food being covered in an “exceedingly bad fish liquor.”

Next time we will discuss the most common foodstuffs in the empire — bread and eggs. Let me know your thoughts on Byzantines and gastronomic subjects below!

Sources:

The Complete Works of Liudprand of Cremona (Medieval Texts in Translation) Liudprand (Bishop of Cremona)

Everyday Life in the Byzantine Empire by Marcus Rautman