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Author and journalist William Sitwell examines the
fascinating history of cuisine in print
It never occurred to me that to discover the origins of, for
example, the staggeringly successful Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals by
Jamie Oliver (the fastest-selling non-fiction title of all time in the UK)
I would have to scramble up the dusty sides of the hill of Sheikh Abd
el-Qurna, outside Luxor in Egypt. For there, in a tomb carved into the
limestone mountain, can be found the beginnings of food publishing, albeit
not as we know it.
These days, publishing a recipe is pretty simple. A few
strokes of the keyboard and one’s blog is updated, there to be
disseminated, hopefully, to the masses. But around 4,000 years ago the only
place recipes were being written down was in the tombs of nobles.
Those pleasures that they wished to have replicated in the afterlife – happy
experiences, rituals, good memories – were painted onto the walls. So it is
our good fortune that Senet, either the wife or mother of a senior Ancient
Egyptian official, loved her flatbreads so much that their making was
painted carefully and in great detail onto the wall of her burial chamber.
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