Ultimate History Cookbook

From the beginning of human history, food has been a central pillar of our societies. Whether it was the first communities that organised around hunting and gathering to fill the dining table, the first farmers who cultivated land to provide for their growing villages or the emperors who used bread to placate the masses, food has helped to drive innovation, conquest and politics for centuries. It’s also what helps bring our friends and family together to share quality time with one another. But what kinds of foods was Cleopatra enjoying? What had Tudor children running in from the garden when the dinner bell rang? And what kept the armies of the Spartans, Romans and Mongols marching day after day? You can find the answers to these questions in the following…

30,000 BCE STONE AGE HUNTING AND GATHERING The appearance of homo sapiens some 35,000 years ago (the Paleolithic era) starts to reduce fish stocks, as man hunts and eats them. The mammoth, wildebeest, zebra and others are hunted seasonally on their respective continents. 6000 BCE The Birth of Irrigation The first irrigation systems appear in Egypt and Mesopotamia (now Iraq and Iran). Water spilling over the banks of the Nile is diverted to fields to water the crops and then drained back into the river at the right time. C. 400 THE MAYANS AND CHOCOLATE Mayans eat chocolate on a daily basis. They drink a mixture of cacao and chilli, and use the liquid as a substitute for blood in some rituals, while cocoa beans are also used as currency.…

Emma is author of Vintage Kitchenalia, a history of British culinary history from the 16th to the 20th century. It also includes beautiful illustrations and historic recipes and is available now for £15 from Amberley Publishing. RALPH COLLIER AMERICAN 1807-88 The race to patent the rotary mixer was close during the 19th century. Ralph Collier in 1856 just pipped British inventor EP Griffiths to the post, whose patent for the same technology was published one year later. Collier’s was based on “vertically revolving stirring blades made of metallic wire… attached to a central shaft.” Table Fork 11TH-12TH CENTURY While forks have been in use since ancient times, they were not considered to be tools for eating until around the 11th century. Allegedly, a visiting noblewoman attending a dinner for a number…

RUSSIA, 1917 The shortage of black bread during WWI was a contributory cause of the Russian Revolution of 1917. In fact, the Bolsheviks adopted the slogan ‘Peace, Land and Bread' to gain public support. There are many ways to make Russian black bread, but this is one of the simplest and plainest recipes. • One cup of warm water (about 45 degrees Celsius)• Molasses (about one third of a cup)• Yeast (about 14-15 grams)• Salt (2 teaspoons)• Rye flour (ideally dark, and approximately five cups)• Caraway seeds 1 Carefully mix together one third of a cup’s worth of molasses and one cup of warm water, then stir. Sprinkle yeast over the top of the water and molasses mixture and then leave it to stand until there is a foam-like consistency.…

AUSTRALIA, 1780S – PRESENT Unless you’re willing to try your luck hunting a kangaroo, finding food in the Outback can be quite a challenge. In the times of colonial Australia, the stockmen and swagmen who spent months there at a time carried only a few basic rations with them, and developed a recipe for bread made only from flour and water. It was baked in the hot ashes of a campfire, or sometimes a camp oven, and enjoyed with golden syrup or whatever meat was available at the time. Recipes for ‘damper bread’, as it became known, first appeared in the 19th century, with conflicting tales relating to the origin of its name. According to the Australian Dictionary Centre, it is derived from the Lancashire expression, “something that damps the…

ENGLAND AND EUROPE, 420-PRESENT The average Anglo-Saxon lived on a diet made up of meat such as deer and wild boar, vegetables for hearty stews, grain crops for flour, and barley, which made beer to wash down the feast. Bread was a mealtime staple, but for some, a bite of Saxon rye bread could lead to much more than a full belly. Crops of rye are susceptible to infection by the Claviceps purpurea fungus, which causes ergot. When the infected rye was ground into flour and baked in bread, the eater was poisoned with what we now know as ergotism. Sufferers would experience convulsions, insanity, hallucinations and even lose limbs to gangrene. Here you can learn how to make rye bread the Saxon way, without the hallucinogenic trips. • 250g…