Book contents
- Monastic Economies in Late Antique Egypt and Palestine
- Monastic Economies in Late Antique Egypt and Palestine
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 The Monastic Economies in Late Antique Egypt and Palestine: Past, Present, and Future
- I. The Monastic Estate
- II. Production and Consumption of Food and Material Goods
- 5 Monastic Vintages: The Economic Role of Wine in Egyptian Monasteries in the Sixth to Eighth Centuries
- 6 Cooking, Baking, and Serving: A Window into the Kitchen of Egyptian Monastic Households and the Archaeology of Cooking
- 7 The Refectory and the Kitchen in the Early Byzantine Monastery of Tell Bi’a (Syria): The Egyptian and Palestinian Connections
- 8 It’s a Dung Job: Exploring Fuel Disc Production in Egyptian Monasteries
- 9 Illuminating the Scriptoria: Monastic Book Production at the Medieval Monastery of St Michael
- III. Monastic Encounters: Travel, Pilgrimage, and Donations
- Glossary
- Index
- References
6 - Cooking, Baking, and Serving: A Window into the Kitchen of Egyptian Monastic Households and the Archaeology of Cooking
from II. - Production and Consumption of Food and Material Goods
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 April 2023
Book contents
- Monastic Economies in Late Antique Egypt and Palestine
- Monastic Economies in Late Antique Egypt and Palestine
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 The Monastic Economies in Late Antique Egypt and Palestine: Past, Present, and Future
- I. The Monastic Estate
- II. Production and Consumption of Food and Material Goods
- 5 Monastic Vintages: The Economic Role of Wine in Egyptian Monasteries in the Sixth to Eighth Centuries
- 6 Cooking, Baking, and Serving: A Window into the Kitchen of Egyptian Monastic Households and the Archaeology of Cooking
- 7 The Refectory and the Kitchen in the Early Byzantine Monastery of Tell Bi’a (Syria): The Egyptian and Palestinian Connections
- 8 It’s a Dung Job: Exploring Fuel Disc Production in Egyptian Monasteries
- 9 Illuminating the Scriptoria: Monastic Book Production at the Medieval Monastery of St Michael
- III. Monastic Encounters: Travel, Pilgrimage, and Donations
- Glossary
- Index
- References
Summary
Egypt has an abundance of well-preserved monastic settlements. The mudbrick structures provide ample evidence for examining domestic spaces associated with the daily household activities of food preparation through the acts of cooking, frying, and baking. While monastic literature presents a portrait of food scarcity in monastic communities, the archaeological evidence of kitchens and cooking spaces creates a more dynamic story of how monks interacted with ingredients, prepared meals, and considered the economy of space in designing areas for food preparation. The monastic movement required new habitations and ones in new locations to be set apart from the traditional and biological households. The importance of consumption habits within the family setting played a role in reinforcing one’s identity in a monastery or in a non-monastic family. The numerous examples of preserved monastic kitchens offer substantial evidence for a robust analysis that combines the theoretical models of household archaeology and spatial configuration to consider how monastic builders addressed the specific needs for food production within a homosocial community. The advent of new monastic settlements in late antique Egypt provides a unique opportunity to observe the evolution of cooking within an archaeological context.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Monastic Economies in Late Antique Egypt and Palestine , pp. 152 - 180Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023
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