Ancient Egyptians ate well: food long ago
The Ancient Egyptians ate well. Their main food was bread, and they made it from grain. Grain is the seeds of plants such as wheat and barley. The soil near the Nile was good for farming, so people grew vegetables like onions and beans too. They added herbs and spices to give food a nice flavour. To preserve food, they dried it and used salt. Today we still eat bread, beans and onions in Egypt. Read our text and look for the foods.
| Food | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| bread | grain: wheat and barley |
| onions, garlic, beans | plants in the fields |
| fish | the River Nile |
| honey | bees |
| dates, figs | trees |
Bread was the most important food in Ancient Egypt. People made it from wheat and barley, which are kinds of grain. They also ate onions, garlic, beans and lentils, and fish from the Nile. For something sweet, they used honey, dates and figs, because sugar was not common then. They added herbs and spices to give their food more flavour. To keep fish and meat for a long time, they dried them and put salt on them, and they stored food in big jars. Meat was usually for special days, such as festivals.
Food matching game. The grown-up writes six foods on cards (bread, honey, fish, onions, beans, figs) and six sources on other cards (grain, bees, river, plants, trees, plants). The child matches them and says: Bread comes from grain. People used salt to preserve fish.