Al-Farabi at the table

In Al-Fârâbî's time, in Baghdad and later Damascus, a refined meal followed a learned order described in 10th-century cookbooks such as Ibn Sayyâr al-Warrâq's Kitāb al-Tabīkh: one begins with light, sour dishes that 'open the stomach,' moves on to slow-simmered stews (marqa) served with flatbread, and finishes with date-and-almond sweets and a digestive drink. For a frugal man like Al-Fârâbî, this service was reduced to essentials: bread, legumes, and fruit, the opulence of the Abbasid table being foreign to him.

A fermented condiment made from barley (sometimes fish) that played the same role in Abbasid cuisine as Roman garum: a few drops brought that deep salty-umami flavor to almost every stew. It is the invisible taste signature of the Baghdad table in Al-Fârâbî's time.