Picky Chefs
JOURNEY to
ANCIENT
Times
(1000 BC / BCE – 1500 AD / CE)
People cooked over fire, roasted meat, and baked bread. They made porridge, cheese, and noodles—early cooking was simple but tasty!
14,000 BC / BCE
The First Bread (Jordan)
Long before ovens existed, people in Jordan made the first flatbreads by crushing wild grains, mixing them with water, and cooking them on hot stones!
10,000 BC / BCE
Early Porridge (Africa & Middle East)
People ground grains into a thick mush, making one of the first warm meals—kind of like oatmeal today!
6,000 BC / BCE
The First The First Beer (Iran & Mesopotamia)
Ancient people accidentally discovered that grains left in water could ferment into beer! Don’t worry, kids—it was more like a bubbly grain drink back then.
5,500 BC / BCE
Say Cheese! (Poland & Middle East)
People discovered cheese by storing milk in animal stomachs, making it curdle! Ancient strainers in Poland show early cheese-making, and Egyptians and Chinese made it too!
4,000 BC / BCE
Noodles in China & Stews in Mesopotamia
People in China made the first long noodles, and in Mesopotamia, cooks wrote down stew recipes on clay tablets, the world's first cookbooks!
2,500 BC / BCE
Early Flatbreads (Indus Valley)
People in India baked some of the first rotis, soft and round breads cooked on a fire.
1,000 BC / BCE
The First Fish Sauce (Rome, Greece, & Asia)
Ancient chefs fermented fish in salt to make a tangy sauce—early ketchup! Romans and Asians loved it on everything!
