The history of food is a long and complicated one. There are many different factors that have influenced the development of various dishes over time. In general, the history of food can be divided into three main periods: prehistory, antiquity, and modern times.
Prehistory is the period before written records. This means that our knowledge of ancient cuisine comes from archaeology and anthropology. One of the most important methods used to study prehistoric diets is through the analysis of stable isotopes. This allows us to identify what kinds of plants and animals were being consumed by looking at the ratios of different carbon and nitrogen isotopes in bones and teeth.
The first evidence for cooked food comes from 1.9 million year old hearths in South Africa. It is likely that early humans were cooking with fire even earlier than this, but these are the earliest physical remains that we have to study. The use of fire for cooking would have had a major impact on human evolution as it would have allowed for the expansion of the brain (due to increased calorie intake) and also led to shorter gut tracts (as cooked food is easier to digest).
Antiquity is generally defined as beginning with the development of writing systems around 4,000 BCE. This period saw a dramatic increase in trade routes as well as advances in agriculture (such as irrigation systems) which allowed for more complex diets. We also see evidence for specialized cooks during this time, such as those who worked in royal courts or temples. Ancient cuisine was often very elaborate and often included many course meals consisting of multiple dishes served one after another.
One famous example of an ancient dish is Roman Tricia, otherwise known as stuffed dormice (a type of small rodent). This dish was mentioned by Marcus Gavius Apicius, a Roman author who wrote a cookbook sometime around 1st century CE . According Tricia includes ingredients such as dormouse meat, pine nuts, honey, poppy seeds, white wine sauce, cheese sauce, garlic sauce, and black pepper sauce!
Another example is Egyptian feseekh. Feseekh is a fermented fish dish that dates back to at least 2nd millennium BCE . It was traditionally made with Nile perch or tilapia but other fish can be used as well . The fish would be gutted and then marinated in salt water mixed with blood before being left to ferment for several days . Once it was fully fermented , it would then