was the storehouse of the world, and had been so, at least,
from the days of Abraham ; for, although we know from
the monuments that corn was grown abundantly in Assyria,
yet it was to Egypt that the patriarchs always resorted
during those times of famine, which would appear to have
been as frequent then in Mesopotamia as they have
unfortunately been of late years in India, and it is worthy
of remark that Egypt owed her comparative immunity
from these terrible visitations, not only to the fertility
caused by the annual overflow of the Nile, but to the
wisdom of her rulers in instituting vast irrigation works,
whereby that overflow was regulated and equalised by
means of great reservoirs, wherein surplus water was stored,
in order that it might be distributed over the land, through
a network of canals when the rise of the Nile was deficient.
The first direct mention of meal and bread in the Bible is
in Genesis xviii. 5, 6, where Abraham invites the angel
to take a morsel of bread, and tells Sarah to ' make ready
quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make
cakes upon the hearth.' This, it may be observed, was
subsequent to the time when famine had driven them into
Egypt, and although we are told that Adam was sent
forth from Paradise to till the ground from whence he
was taken, and also find it recorded that Cain was a
tiller of the soil, yet it is abundantly evident that the
patriarchs were pastoral nomads like the Arabs of the
present day, and in no sense of the word agriculturists,
and that if we wish to trace the early history of cereals
we must look rather to archaeological than to Biblical
records.
We know what the bread of ancient Egypt was like,
24 OUR VIANDS
for it has been found in tombs, and may be seen in the
British Museum. The authorities say it was chiefly barley
cakes, but we learn from the Bible, as well as from the
records of the tombs, that wheat was largely grown, and
also that leaven was used in the making of bread, for the
children of Israel, when they departed out of Egypt, took
their 'kneading troughs with the dough before it was
leavened.' This was the origin of the Jewish feast of
unleavened bread. The leaven employed was doubtless
a piece of stale dough, ' hidden in the meal till the whole
was leavened,' and this is still used in some countries,
but it causes an unpleasant sourness, very unpalatable to
those unaccustomed to it. The Jews, however, evidently
made cakes upon the hearth, of meal mixed with oil, but
it does not seem quite clear whether the meal was of
wheat or barley.
We know, also by actual specimens, what sort of bread
was used by the old Swiss Lake dwellers, who built their
pile houses out into the lakes, but who cultivated wheat,
barley, and rye on the mainland, and, as time went on,
oats also. When their houses were burnt by some enemy
to the water's edge, the food they had stored in them was
burnt also, and, with a lot of articles of domestic use, sank
down to the bottom of the lake, where it lay unheeded and
unknown for many centuries, until discovered by accident
only a few years ago.
Our viands
1893Page 8
Presented as published in 1893. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
A modernized reading is not available for this page yet. You are seeing the original text.
was the storehouse of the world, and had been so, at least,
from the days of Abraham ; for, although we know from
the monuments that corn was grown abundantly in Assyria,
yet it was to Egypt that the patriarchs always resorted
during those times of famine, which would appear to have
been as frequent then in Mesopotamia as they have
unfortunately been of late years in India, and it is worthy
of remark that Egypt owed her comparative immunity
from these terrible visitations, not only to the fertility
caused by the annual overflow of the Nile, but to the
wisdom of her rulers in instituting vast irrigation works,
whereby that overflow was regulated and equalised by
means of great reservoirs, wherein surplus water was stored,
in order that it might be distributed over the land, through
a network of canals when the rise of the Nile was deficient.
The first direct mention of meal and bread in the Bible is
in Genesis xviii. 5, 6, where Abraham invites the angel
to take a morsel of bread, and tells Sarah to ' make ready
quickly three measures of fine meal, knead it, and make
cakes upon the hearth.' This, it may be observed, was
subsequent to the time when famine had driven them into
Egypt, and although we are told that Adam was sent
forth from Paradise to till the ground from whence he
was taken, and also find it recorded that Cain was a
tiller of the soil, yet it is abundantly evident that the
patriarchs were pastoral nomads like the Arabs of the
present day, and in no sense of the word agriculturists,
and that if we wish to trace the early history of cereals
we must look rather to archaeological than to Biblical
records.
We know what the bread of ancient Egypt was like,
24 OUR VIANDS
for it has been found in tombs, and may be seen in the
British Museum. The authorities say it was chiefly barley
cakes, but we learn from the Bible, as well as from the
records of the tombs, that wheat was largely grown, and
also that leaven was used in the making of bread, for the
children of Israel, when they departed out of Egypt, took
their 'kneading troughs with the dough before it was
leavened.' This was the origin of the Jewish feast of
unleavened bread. The leaven employed was doubtless
a piece of stale dough, ' hidden in the meal till the whole
was leavened,' and this is still used in some countries,
but it causes an unpleasant sourness, very unpalatable to
those unaccustomed to it. The Jews, however, evidently
made cakes upon the hearth, of meal mixed with oil, but
it does not seem quite clear whether the meal was of
wheat or barley.
We know, also by actual specimens, what sort of bread
was used by the old Swiss Lake dwellers, who built their
pile houses out into the lakes, but who cultivated wheat,
barley, and rye on the mainland, and, as time went on,
oats also. When their houses were burnt by some enemy
to the water's edge, the food they had stored in them was
burnt also, and, with a lot of articles of domestic use, sank
down to the bottom of the lake, where it lay unheeded and
unknown for many centuries, until discovered by accident
only a few years ago.