Year 4 - Ancient Greek Food Facts

The Ancient Greek people had all sorts of beliefs, and traditions related to the food they ate.

To begin with, they never ate meat unless it had been sacrificed to a god, or had been hunted in the wild. They believed that it was wrong to kill and eat a tame, domesticated animal without sacrificing it to the gods.

Even with vegetables, many Greeks believed that particular foods were cleaner or dirtier, or that some gods liked certain foods better than others.

The Greeks ate mainly the Mediterranean triad, wheat (or barley or millet), wine, and olive oil. They also grew vegetables, especially legumes (lentils, beans, peas, chickpeas).

Possibly they ate more fish than most other Mediterranean people.

The Greeks tended to think of the god Dionysos whenever they drank wine (which was often), and to think of Demeter and Persephone whenever they ate bread.