Mesopotamia: Food, Culture, and Gods

          The Fertile Crescent is an area of land that runs from the Mediterranean Sea on its western end, then curves around in a crescent shape to the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in modern Iraq, down to the Persian Gulf. It was in this part of the world, the land called Mesopotamia, which means “between the rivers,” that scientists believe an advanced civilization began approximately 5,000 years ago—around 3000 B.C. The cities in Mesopotamia were surrounded by walls for defence, and inside the walled city was another walled mini-city, the temple. Inside the temple was the most important building, the granary, where the city stored its food. Priests and priestesses honoured the gods full time by preparing food for them and celebrating with feasts on their special days. So, from the earliest civilizations, food, religion, and government were connected.

           The abundance of food in Mesopotamia is evident in the records of what was presented to the gods and goddesses, who needed to eat four times a day. Their mainstay was bread, as it was for humans. The main god, Anu, and three main goddesses, Antu, Ishtar, and Nanaya, got thirty loaves a day—each. They also got “top quality dates,” figs, and grapes. There was also much meat given every day to them and to other minor divinities. This was sacred food, ritually prepared. The millers, bakers, and butchers had to recite prayers of thanks to the gods and goddesses as they ground the grain, kneaded the bread, and slaughtered the animals. Then the priests placed the food on golden platters and set it before the gods, perhaps on a table. Historians don’t know what happened then, but speculate that the priests ate the food themselves or sold it if the temple needed money.

            In Mesopotamia, foods were preserved by drying, salting, covering them in oil, or in the case of dairy, by turning it into clarified butter and cheese. Ingredients mentioned in other sources are pomegranates, arugula, fish, pistachios, cherries, plums, lentils, anise seed, grasshoppers, eggplant, jujubes (a kind of date), vetch (a legume), honey, turtles, sesame seeds, and pork. They did not eat horses, dogs, or snakes. Such culinary creations call for great skill, so cooks were a highly regarded professional class who served apprenticeships to learn their trade. They were specialized, with cooks separate from bakers and pastry cooks. Their services were affordable only to the wealthy. A royal household might have 400 cooks and 400 pastry chefs. The gods mirrored this: a major god like Marduk might have a minor god, who would be known as “Cook of Marduk.”