flipFigs and Cheese of the Traveler
Figs and Cheese of the Traveler
Why this dish? An itinerant aoidos, Homer traveled Ionia from city to city, living on what he was offered. Dried figs and goat cheese were the quintessential travel provisions: light, durable, energetic. This was the satchel of all who walked the Greek roads, his most likely food between banquets.
A road snack combining the sweetness of dried figs with the saltiness of goat cheese and the crunch of nuts, just as it was carried on the paths of archaic Greece.
The road is long from Chios to Smyrna, stranger, and the belly does not sing if it is empty. In my satchel I carry figs dried in the sun, sweet as honey, hardened goat cheese that does not spoil, and a few nuts in the fold of a cloth. This is enough to walk all day! Bite the fig, then the cheese: one is the kiss of summer, the other the strength of the shepherd.
- •Sun-dried figs — a handful (sweetness and energy)
- •Dry goat cheese — a piece (salty and protein)
- •Walnuts or almonds — a few (crunch)
- •Honey — a drizzle (binder (variation))
Figs and Cheese of the Traveler
A road snack combining the sweetness of dried figs with the saltiness of goat cheese and the crunch of nuts, just as it was carried on the paths of archaic Greece.
Why this dish? An itinerant aoidos, Homer traveled Ionia from city to city, living on what he was offered. Dried figs and goat cheese were the quintessential travel provisions: light, durable, energetic. This was the satchel of all who walked the Greek roads, his most likely food between banquets.
The road is long from Chios to Smyrna, stranger, and the belly does not sing if it is empty. In my satchel I carry figs dried in the sun, sweet as honey, hardened goat cheese that does not spoil, and a few nuts in the fold of a cloth. This is enough to walk all day! Bite the fig, then the cheese: one is the kiss of summer, the other the strength of the shepherd.
Ingredients (period version)
- Sun-dried figs — a handful (sweetness and energy)
- Dry goat cheese — a piece (salty and protein)
- Walnuts or almonds — a few (crunch)
- Honey — a drizzle (binder (variation))
Ingredients
- Dried figs — 8 figs (sweetness and energy)
- Aged goat cheese (dry) — 120 g (salty and protein)
- Walnuts and almonds — a handful (crunch)
- Honey — 1 tbsp (binder (variation))
Method
- Arrange the dried figs, goat cheese cut into pieces, and nuts on a board.
- For a 'travel balls' version: slit each fig, insert a bit of cheese and a nut inside.
- Drizzle with honey if desired.
- Serve as is, or wrap in a cloth to take along.
How it was made : The fig, fresh or dried, was an emblematic and cheap Greek food, to the point of being a symbol of Athens. Dried in the sun, it kept for months and, with cheese and olives, formed the trilogy of the modest meal and the traveler. Nuts and almonds completed these road provisions.
The contemporary twist : Roll the stuffed figs in toasted sesame seeds and serve as bite-sized treats — an 'energy ball' from before antiquity.
Sources : A. Dalby, Food in the Ancient World from A to Z · Mentions of figs and cheese in archaic Greek poetry
Homer · Charactorium
