Kemetic Food History: Ancient Crops and Edible Delights

Happy Ancestral Art Wednesday! This study of Kemetic food history is dedicated to Dr. Carriemae Marquess, my ancestor who traveled the world teaching about food in places such as Kenya, Haiti and Jamaica.

Kemetic temple paintings in East Africa depict fields of the afterlife, where there is an abundance of diverse fruits and vegetables spawned from the annual inundation of the river and its fertile soil. These glorious displays of bountiful harvests remind us that Heaven is on Earth. The utopia we seek to achieve is actually right here, not in some mythical fairyland beyond the realm of our imagination. The artistry of our ancestors is unmatched. Read about Ancient Palettes to catch a glimpse into the skilled craftsmanship of precolonial times. 

Eternity means everything is happening all at once. 

There are many higher worlds, but we cannot access them without raising the frequency of the world where we already are. Our lives are parallel to the lives of the ancients. Each time period is separated by a milky liquid like the surface of a lake. This is how the universe organizes our collective memories—through an elaborate kaleidoscope of mirrored reflections. The past is the same as the future. This means that the edible delights once cherished in ancient societies are still present and waiting for us to enjoy them. 

The foundation of my practice is to approach food as art and medicine. The history of cuisine is vibrant, flavorful and delicious. It can show us the paths we’ve traveled and help us to learn more about ourselves. Food is spiritual — it is a gift from the Creator. We honor the food that nourishes us and the natural forces who made it possible to exist. 

Our kitchen carries history. It contains herbs and spices that we sprinkle on our food and make tea with. It’s the home of our nourishment where we craft delicious dishes to fill ourselves up. As quoted in the excerpt above, Tis the place from which I do my thing. I love to think about how the foods I eat have been on this planet for thousands of years, grown in beautiful gardens and communicated with as beloved plant and animal relatives. 

Before we dive into food, I want to clarify who exactly the people are in this region of the world because there has been much confusion and erasure of this information. Prior to the Arab invasion of the Nile Valley region, it was populated by a rich culture of Black Nubians with indigenous features and melanated skin. This area stretches from Ethiopia, Sudan and Egypt. 

There is still a thriving community of Africans who preserve their ancestral heritage here, but they are often overlooked in favor of North African and European descendants who colonized the land. They broke off wide noses on statues and chipped away at the clay on temple carvings, replacing these images with their own illustrations of so-called Egyptians that have Eurocentric facial features. 

Why is this important?

It’s important to know this because the whitewashing of history influences our self image in the Black community. We struggle to recognize ourselves in ancient civilizations that were wealthy, successful and intelligent. We are taught that the majority of our history originates in chattel slavery, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. There used to be a time when we ruled the world with our own economies, networks and agricultural harvests. 

When I think about ancestral kitchen medicines—floral teas, spicy peppers, bitter roots and barks—I’m reminded of the many years of travel, commerce and labor that it took to conserve them. This is our knowledge and we deserve to reclaim it. 

Even the strainers we used for filtering liquid were made of gold. Wine, fruit juice and herbal extracts could be poured through blessed metal. The minerals in our equipment had a spiritual and scientific reaction with edible ingredients and contributed to the healing power of the concoction. This shows the level of reverence that was infused into our food. Fine dining was both a necessity and a daily occurrence. Elitism was not exclusive—it was communal because everyone was well fed and treated like royalty. Food scarcity did not exist. 

Quick note on terminology: Egypt is the Greek name for the region that the indigenous Black Africans referred to as Kemet, which means The Black Land. In this study, I use the words Egypt and Kemet interchangeably because the Greek term is still common and easily recognizable. However, it should be noted that Kemet is the true name for the land. 

Hungry now? I’m starving. Here’s the menu!

Read below to explore the rich history of food in East Africa.

These are foods that were commonly eaten in ancient times. This list only scratches the surface as there are many more. Some of them are more popular than others in today’s world due to the industrialization, commercialization and accessibility of crops. They all have health benefits and can be found in mainstream grocery stores, African, Indian and Asian cultural markets, and foraged wild from your local environment. 

Figs

Figs are savory fruits that have been grown in tropical regions throughout the African diaspora. They are sacred in many religions including Hinduism and Judaism. It was believed that Buddha, a renowned spiritual sage from South Asia, gained enlightenment under a fig tree. Planted in home gardens as a symbol of good luck, figs contain abundant nutrients and are a great source of dietary fiber. Paradise, purity, peace and prosperity are associated with figs. 

Grapes

“Came shining through the dusk an angel shape bearing a vessel on his shoulder… it was the grape.” —Dorothy Ashby, Joyful Grass and Grape

Grape is a lunar plant ruled by the Water element. Painted vineyards adorn the architecture of buildings, displaying elaborate scenes of grapes growing at all angles. The production and trade of wine was an important economic activity. Grape seeds were collected and placed in tombs to bless the afterlife. Cold-pressed grapeseed oil is a byproduct of the winemaking process. Raisin bread is thousands of years old. These dried grapes were baked into loaves. It’s wild to imagine how this food that many of us grew up eating for breakfast was once an ancient delicacy. 

Grape juice was used as a sweetener in recipes and every temple had a vineyard for the supply of wine during spiritual ceremonies and rituals. In a Kemetic folktale, grape is referred to as heart. This shows the similarity between the shape of a cluster of grapes and the shape of the heart, referencing its ability to heal the cardiovascular system. Fertility, regeneration and rebirth are associated with grapes.

Pomegranate

“I am the foremost in the orchard, for I endure through every season.” —Egyptian poem

Pomegranates were imported into Egypt from Asia where they were treasured in meals and temple offerings. Its health benefits include promoting vitality, supporting digestion, treating respiratory issues, and reducing the risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease. This fruit contains prebiotics that provide food for healthy gut bacteria. 

The red seeds produce juice with a tart taste that was fermented into wine and the rinds were used for yellow dye. Wine was served in vessels of all kinds shaped like pomegranates, including faience, glass, ivory, alabaster and silver. Bouquets were designed with the vibrant flowers of this tree. Its branches offer shade and protection from the Sun while serving as a symbol of abundance and fertility. Eternal life is associated with pomegranates.

Dates

The date palm was honored by many indigenous cultures as an embodiment of royalty in the natural world. It can be found in tropical landscapes absorbing the radiance of the Sun. Growing at various heights, this tree produces red and golden fruits with wide leaf fronds. Date palms were used to track time because they grow a new leaf every lunar month. In Ancient Kemet, bnr, the hieroglyphic word for dates also refers to sweetness in the behavior and character of a person. 

Dates were made into a sweetener for food and drinks, similar to honey. Like grapes, they can be cooked into baked goods. Wine is traditionally crafted from palm trees using both date fruit and the central inner shaft of the trunk where a milky sap is tapped and fermented to make palm wine. The leaves can be woven into baskets, mats, brushes and sandals. Fiber from the bark was made into ropes. Het-Heru, the feminine deity associated with beauty and the planet Venus, was known as Lady of the Date Palm.

Honey

“Ra wept, and the tears from his eyes fell on the ground and turned into a bee.  The bee made his honeycomb and busied himself with the flowers of every plant and so wax was made and also honey out of the tears of Ra.”

Honey was sacred in Ancient Kemet, representing the beauty of bees and the sacrifice of their daily labor. They were considered the personification of the Sun’s tears and symbolized a gift from the divinities. Beehives were made out of mud and carried in boats to facilitate the pollination of crops and wildflowers along the Nile River, such as chamomile, flaxseed, celery and roses. 

Pharaohs received a daily serving of honey, which was used as a sweetener and for medicine. Honey has antibacterial properties and was applied to heal cuts and burns. It was also used as a currency to pay for goods and services. Bees were given sweet foods like figs to eat during the cold months in winter season. In our modern world, it’s best to consume organic raw honey sourced from local farmers and beekeepers rather than mainstream brands that taste like plastic.

Bread and Cake

A type of bread called khat cake was made into various crystal shapes like conical and isosceles triangles. This connection between bread and crystals shows how everything in the environment was honored for its healing potential. Tiger nuts were baked into cone-shaped cakes with honey and date syrup. The process involved crushing and filtering the tiger nuts through a sieve to make flour and then combining them with a liquid to produce dough. This recipe has a very sweet taste and was sourced from the tomb of Rekhmire. Wealth and sustenance are associated with bread.

Fish

The aquatic ecosystem in Ancient Kemet thrived with rivers, streams and marshes where fish were caught and prepared for consumption. Different forms of preparation include fried, smoked, boiled, salted, sun-dried, pickled and cooked in soups. The Nile provided an abundant source of fish with its annual inundation of water that flooded the banks with tilapia, catfish and pufferfish. Some fish were associated with spiritual deities in nature, treated as sacred and fed to cats. This region is where the use of tools like nets, reels and lines first began. 

“The heart is a red fish swimming in a pond.”

Fishing hooks were made from copper and fresh catch were enjoyed daily. Fish was often the first food that infants consumed after transitioning from breastmilk. Fishcakes were made by shredding the meat and mixing it with bread and spices. When fried, the fish were drenched in oil and honey. They could also be marinated in wine, beer and oil with onions. Bones were made into beads, needles and combs. 

Pine

Pine is a native evergreen tree in North America, growing across expanses of miles and reaching tremendous heights. Ancient Egyptian culture exists right here on this continent and pine reveals that to be true. This tree appears in Kemetic cosmology as a symbol of eternity. The needles and cones can be made into an herbal tea for medicine and infused in vinegar for cleaning, and the nuts were consumed as food by the Navajo people. Pinecones are designed with the flower of life, the sacred geometric shape that is also found in sunflowers. They adorn the Staff of Asar with two intertwined serpents representing transformation and enlightenment.