Lecture 5: Classical Greece—Wine, Olive Oil, and Trade
texture. His cooking is light and elegant, presumably intended to
counteract what must have been before him—a cuisine based on
abundance and variety. This cooking is more refi ned because it
takes discernment and knowledge, not just a lot of money.What Did Ordinary Greeks Eat?
Hunting is no longer important. The main species that are
domesticated are sheep, pigs, and goats. Sheep and goats were
mainly used for dairy, but
young kids and lambs were
eaten and were considered a
seasonal delicacy. Pork is the
most commonly eaten meat.
In general, beef is very rare.
All of these animals could be
sacrifi cial victims. Greeks did eat wild hare and
also puppies. Sometimes,
they ate wild ass. They also
ate lots of snails, even though
physicians thought that they
were dangerous. Wild birds
were also part of Greek cuisine. Greeks domesticated chickens,
geese, and quails. Eggs were
very important in Greek cuisine.
They didn’t use butter, which doesn’t keep in hot weather, or drink
fresh milk, which they associated with wild barbarians. However,
they did eat a kind of yogurt that was later called oxygala. Cheese
is very important. Greeks usually ate fresh goat or sheep cheeses,
which were sometimes brined to preserve them. Fish are also extremely important—from huge tuna, sturgeon,
sharks, bluefi sh, mullet, and pike to tiny anchovies. Shellfi sh, too,
abound in the Aegean Sea, including octopus and squid, oysters,Olive oil is a natural fat that has
been used by humans for ages.© Ingram Publishing/Thinkstock.