Oldest recorded recipes in history

Long before cookbooks and food blogs existed, ancient civilizations were already writing down recipes on clay tablets. The oldest known written recipes date back nearly 3,700 years to ancient Mesopotamia. These recipes reveal a surprisingly rich and sophisticated food culture centred around stews, broths, grains, herbs, and meat. (unsplash)

The Babylonian Clay Tablets: The world’s oldest known recipes were discovered on Babylonian clay tablets written in Akkadian cuneiform around 1730 BCE. The tablets were initially mistaken for medicinal texts before scholars realized they were actually culinary recipes. (wikimedia commons)

Ancient Stews Were Extremely Popular: Most of the recipes recorded on the tablets were for stews and broths. Ingredients included lamb, pigeon, garlic, leeks, coriander, turnips, and even blood based broth thickeners. (wikimedia commons)

There Was Even a Vegetarian Recipe: One recipe translated as “unwinding” was a vegetarian barley broth thickened with bread. Historians believe it may have been considered a comforting or calming dish. (wikimedia commons)

Beer Was Used in Cooking: Several ancient recipes used beer as an ingredient. Babylonian beer was likely sour and barley-based, adding depth and richness to stews and broths. (wikimedia commons)

The Recipes Were Surprisingly Sophisticated: French Assyriologist Jean Bottéro described the cuisine as remarkably refined and artistic for such an early civilization. Modern recreations show that many dishes resemble contemporary Middle Eastern cooking. (wikimedia commons)

Modern Historians Still Recreate Them Today: Researchers, chefs, and food historians continue recreating these ancient recipes using modern ingredients and translations. The dishes offer a rare taste of how people ate nearly four millennia ago and show how deeply food has always connected human cultures. (wikimedia commons)