This post might be better suited for my Food Blog BUT I figured I’d included here for anyone who is searching for ideas of what to serve at an Ancient Egyptian party.
While we know in general what the Ancient Egyptians ate (a lot of bread and beer, complemented with the vegetables they could grow in their gardens – onions were very popular – as well as the fish they could get from the Nile and the birds they could hunt), we don’t really have much in the way of recipes, and it’s not necessarily easy (or practical) to get their staples here. For example, where would I find a tiger nut?
The following menu for my kids slumber party is as authentic as I could get it to be. I’m basing some of the ingredients on what has been available in Egypt from Coptic times on.
Snack: Baby carrots, cucumber slices, celery and pita bread with hummus and babaganoush. Grapes and watermelon, if I find it.
Dinner: Chicken kebabs, with cucumber-yogurt salad
Breakfast: Egyptian pancakes* with honey & walnuts and eggs a la carte
Lunch: Pizza (I know, I know, but that’s what Mika wanted) and same things as snacks
Cake: Homemade, with light brown frosting (to look like sand), decorated with these Ancient Egyptian figurines
I had wanted to make a pyramid cake, but my trial efforts at it were pathetic. I hope this cake will turn out (I’m planning on using mix and store-bought frosting) and won’t look too bad.
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* I don’t know if the Ancient Egyptians ate pancakes or feteer, but when I lived in Egypt there were several shops (specially one in Khan el Khalili) serving them – they were delicious. Given the simplicity of the recipes, I would imagine they are very old. I’ll give them a trial run tomorrow, to see if they come out. If not I’m not sure what I’ll do. I have a recipe for ataif, arab pancakes which date to medieval times, but it looks even harder.