Amenhotep III at the table

The ancient Egyptian meal is not divided into starter-main-dessert: it is built on two nourishing pillars, bread (ta) and beer (henket), around which everything else is organized. Depending on rank and occasion, raw vegetables, fish or poultry, and honey sweets are added. At the royal table of Amenhotep III, this popular framework is adorned with roasted meats, wines from the oases, and refined pastries, but the logic remains the same: bread and beer first, the rest in procession.

Long before sugar, Egypt sweetened with honey and tiger nuts (chufa, a small tuber with an almond-hazelnut taste), attested in offerings and tombs. Along with coriander and cumin for savory dishes, they define the flavor palette of the Nile Valley in the New Kingdom.