Food in antiquity - Brothwell

A world-wide survey of the eating and drinking habits of early peoples covering a broad geographical range, from the early populations of Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Americas, to the more familiar Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Greek, and Roman worlds. From meat, insects, vegetables and fruit, each source of sustenance is described in terms of who consumed it, how it was prepared and how it spread from its region of origin.;The reader learns, for example, that the vinegar carried by Roman foot soldiers was mixed with water to serve as a refreshing drink and that fungi provided a reliable source of diet for peoples from Europe, Australia, Japan and China. The authors also consider such questions as whether St John ate carob or actual locusts in his desert hermitage and whether ancient farmers may have rid their crops of troublesome pests by capturing and eating them. They discuss cannibalism, food taboos, and the radical changes that took place with the introduction of the domestication of animals. The story they unfold sheds light on the intricate detective work, the problems and rewards, of biological research in archaeology.