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The diet of the inhabitants of the Byzantine Empire depended largely on their place of residence. The inhabitants of rural areas were usually self-sufficient in food supply, while urban residents bought goods from the market. There were shops where they could buy what they needed, such as bakeries, greengroceries, stores that sold spices brought from India and China.

There were of course itinerant traders who visited the neighbourhoods trumpeting their goods. The dietary habits of the Byzantines depended on the social class and the economic status of the nations and the nationalities of the empire, the rules of their religion, the geographic location of their residence and probably the habits of the era.

The meals

Breakfast: it is not documented that the Byzantines were having breakfast. The first meal of the day around noon was the ‘ariston’ meaning in Greek ‘the best’ and it was called lunch.

Dinner: it was the richest meal and they had it a little before the sunset.

The food, of course, was different for the poor and the rich. Poor people ate black bread, cheese, olives, sprouts, tubers, legumes and eggs.

Byzantine menu

Appetizers

Caviar and roe: sources indicate that the Byzantines knew caviar, which was an expensive delicacy. The Byzantines ate roe too.

Capers: the islanders in the Byzantine used capers in brine as an appetizer.

Quick fixes

Agiozoumi: on fasting days, on Wednesdays and  on Fridays, the Byzantines drank the agiozoumi. It resembled the familiar onion soup, with pieces of bread inside it.

Grouti: it was a porridge from raw or roasted flour and hot water.

‘Perichymata’ (sauces) Garos (sauce): they mixed small fish, offal, blood and gills of fish with salt. They added pepper and old wine. They were brewing the mixture for several hours or they left it under the sun for 2-3 months. The garos was served mixed with oil or water or wine or vinegar.

‘Artymata’ (spices)

The most popular were leeks, celery, spearmint, cumin, pepper, fennel, rosemary, dill, oregano, nutmeg and cinnamon. These were used to give flavor to food but also for therapeutic reasons.

Salt

The salt held a special place in the trade of the empire. They used salt to preserve food, fish, meat, and cheese. The Byzantine Empire purchased salt from the salt marsh of the Aegean, Adriatic and the Black Sea.

Wheat and bread

Everybody in the Byzantine Empire ate bread. In villages, each household baked its own bread, while most people in cities purchased it from the baker’s. There were, as now, many kinds of bread. Apart from the fresh bread the Byzantines made ‘paximadi’ , which was sliced bread baked again.

Olives and oil

During the Byzantine period, huge quantities of oil were consumed for food and toilet reasons. In regions of the empire, where the climate favoured the cultivation of olives, inhabitants were cooking almost exclusively with olive oil.

Vegetables

The vegetables were cheap food, that’s why the gourmets avoided it. Vegetables and legumes were food for the poor and the monks, especially on fasting days.

The pulses, beans, broad beans, fava beans and lentils were widespread in Byzantium. Their cooking was difficult and the Byzantines recommended their cooking with mustard. The Byzantines especially loved the chickpeas and the peas.

Milk and cheese

The Byzantines preferred dairy products from cows and buffaloes, as milk, cheese and butter. The cheese-making flourished during the Byzantine years. In the mountainous Balkan Peninsula Vlachs prepared famous cheese.

Poultry and eggs

The Byzantines especially loved the eggs. They usually ate eggs from hens and geese, pheasants or partridges. The eggs from the hens and pheasants were considered as excellent food and were abundant in the homes of the poor. They made delicious omelettes, called ’sphoungata’.

Poultry were very widespread among the Byzantines, especially the cock. They boiled the poultry or roasted it. Sometimes they filled the poultry with spices and then they baked it. The Byzantines also ate Indian fowl, pigeons, peacocks, quail and turtle-doves. The pheasants considered luxurious delicacy, because their meat was the most tasty and easy to digest than any other poultry. Cranes, ducks and geese were also widespread and they were cooked with wine.

Meat

The Byzantines ate meat either boiled or roasted. They ate lamb or goat particularly in April. The sheep meat was considered as very tasty. In rich meals, the deer, the roe deer and the wild boar could be eaten. The most favourite meat, in the Byzantine was pork with vegetables. They made a kind of jelly from the head of the pig.  

Fish

The fish was a usual food in Byzantine especially among monks and bishops. They ate mainly, rockfish, bass, scorpion fish, chanos, skipjack etc. They fried or boiled the fish in water in which they added oil, dill and leeks. The Byzantines consumed carp, bass and mullet. The Byzantine kippered sardines, herring and ceros.

Beverages

The most popular drink was of course the wine, which was not only a pleasure but also a food supplement. In Byzantium there was an impressive variety of wines with names similar to their colour. Many other beverages came from other countries of the East. Coffee was known in Byzantium and they used to drink it the same way we do nowadays.

Fruits and desserts

The Byzantines ate almonds, chestnuts, pistachios and pine cones. Apples were luxury food. They offered them in golden dishes and sold them in glass containers. They also honoured pears and figs. The most common fruit was grapes and raisins for the poor. The cheapest fruits were melons.

The Byzantines loved especially sweets made from honey. The pastels were particularly a favourite sweet. They also ate honey-cakes and syrupy sweetmeats. An important sweet was ‘baklava’ or ‘kopton’.

The Byzantine diet did not include potatoes, tomatoes and sugar. Potatoes and tomatoes became known during the 19th century as they came from America. Their diet wasn’t healthy because the Byzantines used too much salt to preserve meat and fish and as we know the salt in food is not very good.

A healthy eating habit was to use honey instead of sugar.