Comments on: Some Mesopotamian Ingredients Revealed

By: John F Monhardt

John F Monhardt — Sun, 31 Oct 2021 08:56:43 +0000

Reading The Oldest Cuisine in The World be Jean Botter and this listed translation of ingredients reall make the reading clarifying. Now I acn undwrstand the 40 recipies.
Great Thank You.

By: Laura

Laura — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 19:25:27 +0000

In reply to Lucy Walton.

Hi Lucy: It “could be.” But there is no compelling evidence for it to be anything other than a root vegetable. Bottero made many errors, and called pretty much any vegetable a member of the onion family. The entry reads:

Suhutinnu = A root vegetable. Possibly a parsnip, turnip or carrot. Sahutinnu in Assyrian (Begins with letter “shin”). In the Babylonian tablets translated by Bottero, it is always used “raw”. Ref 1 states that it is an alliaceous plant, but there is no evidence to support that it is anything other than a root vegetable. Tablets simply report that they are “dug up”.

I like to stick to the evidence and be clear about assumptions.

By: Lucy Walton

Lucy Walton — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 12:46:23 +0000

Could “suhutinnu” be simply an onion bulb?

By: Laura

Laura — Sat, 17 Apr 2021 16:33:55 +0000

In reply to Jerolyn E. Morrison. Thanks!

By: "Your worthiness is the result of chance": Kanasu Broth c. 1700 BC | The Past is a Foreign Pantry

Fri, 09 Apr 2021 17:44:34 +0000

[…] the samidu and suhutinnu as allium vegetables, like leeks or shallots. However, the food historian Laura Kelley believes that some of Bottéro’s translations are incorrect, and that rather than being a vegetable, samidu was more like […]

By: Jerolyn E. Morrison

Jerolyn E. Morrison — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 06:26:32 +0000

Thank you very much for publishing your reference work here. Fabulous resource!

By: Ghazanfar Ali

Ghazanfar Ali — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 12:01:06 +0000

In reply to Ghazanfar Ali. A good work to understand previous legacy .

By: Ghazanfar Ali

Ghazanfar Ali — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 11:59:10 +0000

Very nice work

By: Ghazanfar Ali

Ghazanfar Ali — Fri, 12 Mar 2021 10:33:51 +0000

Very nice research

By: Gale

Gale — Tue, 23 Feb 2021 05:33:17 +0000

Just to clarify….when you say ” Currently the words undefined or in my opinion incorrectly defined by Bottero include” you are defining these words properly below that, not just listing things Bottero got wrong.

I am asking because I’m trying to put together a list of all known foods mesopotamians had and used. I was half way through adding some of these to my list when I saw that sentence and was thinking “Wait, are these ingredients that were WRONG?” But I read again, and everything you list below that are what you believe are the actual meanings for those words, correct?

By: Sumerian Pigeon Soup

Sumerian Pigeon Soup — Fri, 05 Feb 2021 18:53:56 +0000

[…] claim it’s semolina, some an “unknown spice”. I’m in the semolina camp (here’s a helpful list of ingredients with cognates from nearby languages). What I know for sure, is that ancient cooks in the region also relied heavily on barley, so […]

By: Audrey Antley

Audrey Antley — Sun, 17 Nov 2019 07:05:01 +0000

This is awesome, thank you so very much!!!

By: Sally Lyon

Sally Lyon — Mon, 21 Oct 2019 21:50:28 +0000

Thank you Laura, I am reading Bottero… cooking in Mesopotamia. I had some of the same questions that you did. As I read it the broth’s were really stews. And cucumber made no sense in that court bouillon, but Citroen works, absolutely. I will be trying out some of these recipes. Thank you, Sally Lyon

By: N

Tue, 20 Aug 2019 21:11:13 +0000

In reply to Hester Jacoba Louisa de Beer. Real pleasure to know your work

By: Joni Graham

Joni Graham — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 01:36:06 +0000

This is so helpful, what a wonderful resource to have! I’m in the middle of reading Bottero’s book, myself, and am finding so many terms undefined. Thank you for putting this together!

By: Yuri Gabrov

Yuri Gabrov — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 17:07:42 +0000

Awsome! Well done!