Ancient Cookware from the Levant - An Ethnoarchaeological Perspective - Gloria London
9. Making Breads, Roasting Grains and Cooking Other Food
Ancient Cookware from the Levant - An Ethnoarchaeological Perspective - Gloria London
Gloria London [+]
Independent Scholar
Description
Bread baking was highly varied, as evidenced by the different shapes, grains, and baking techniques for leavened or unleavened varieties. Traditional ceramic bread moulds, plain or simple, have ancient counterparts. Several cooking and baking techniques do not require pots or permanent ovens but rely on organic materials that will not be preserved. Roasting grain at night, after cooking the daily meal, was a sensible use of a dying fire in traditional societies and perhaps in antiquity. Jars could hold either wine or oil, but not both. Traditional plates to bake and serve pitta resemble their ancient counterparts. There was a close connection between pot shape and the foods cooked or processed in them. Traditional Cypriot pottery includes specific containers suitable for meat and a completely different set of pots for dairy foods.