Writing fiction based in the ancient world requires creative use of somewhat obscure evidence to bring it to life, along with a dose of imagination. That’s especially true with fictional food from the past.
Fashioning Fictional Food
Food the reader can taste and savor brings intensity to historically based fiction. While sometimes I let the fantasy side of my writing determine a dish, I more often look at the archaeological record. I like to design historically accurate meals. For that, I might use DNA found around a hearth or in the residue in a pot. I might also check palace inventory lists. The foods Bronze Age Hittites and Mycenaeans stored is also what they could cook.
Here’s a short passage from early in Priestess of Ishana which combines both the historical and the fantastical. King Hattu and Tesha are sharing a first meal in the reception hall of Ishana’s temple:
“Servants interrupted their game by bringing cups of beer and bowls of cheese, olives, sweet figs, almonds, along with slices of barley bread. In honor of the king, they also included glistening silver plates of early white tora blooms, whose red stamen provided a perfumed sweetness when run between the teeth.”
Figs, almonds, olives, and bread made of barley are all well documented in various forms of evidence. Later in this scene, Tesha “picked up a delicate bloom and pressed its crimson center between her lips, enjoying the burst of honeyed nectar on her tongue.” The sexy tora bloom is entirely a figment of my imagination. I borrowed from childhood memories of plucking honeysuckle flowers to taste.
Fictional food sometimes has a few jobs to accomplish. As here where it threads in a hint of the characters’ attraction to each other and the romance to come. At the same time, it grounds the scene in concrete detail. On top of that, eating this simple meal creates an interlude for an extended conversation where Tesha and Hattu can begin plummeting into love. After all, this opportunity to get to know each other–essential to the plot–will be rudely interrupted in a few moments.
Ancient Food and Flavor at the Penn Museum
Contemporary archaeologists use many tools that provide writers like me excellent information. That wasn’t always true. I’m infinitely grateful for the ongoing work of archaeologists these days. I’m certainly not alone in that appreciation.
The Penn Museum, one of the greatest archaeological collections in the world, features a new exhibit. The exhibit entitled, “Ancient Food and Flavor” asks:
“What can burned seeds, dried meats, or waterlogged
fruits, remarkably preserved for thousands
of years, tell us about the past?”
The exhibit demonstrates what can be learned from three sites in Switzerland, Jordan, and Peru. The conclusions sound familiar to me from my writing process. The website shows a fishing tool from Robenhausen. It mentions carbonized plant material in Jordan that shows wine production and grain storage. Preserved potatoes, corn, basketry and wood from Pachacamac reveal the flavors of the past on the other side of the world. I wish I could go see this exhibit. Lots of fun.