A Culinary Trip to Ancient Babylon
As you might imagine, pomegranate and barley are featured on the menu several times
In today’s installment of weird (but potentially cool) things going on in the food scene in Philly, we present a “sumptuous, wintertime dinner that might have been enjoyed by Hammurabi himself.”
The creative minds over at Dancing Ferret Concerts, a company that designs concerts and cultural events in Philadelphia, are launching a series called “Meals of Antiquity” in which they seek to recreate the gastronomic experiences of the ancient world. To kick off their ancient meal series, Dancing Ferret (we can’t get past the name either) is hosting a Babylonian themed dinner on Sunday, March 1 at 6:30 pm at Lucha Cartel.
The meal has been highly researched by designer Colin Barth in order to ensure its historical accuracy. For example, the recipes will feature neither black pepper (since in ancient Babylon, black pepper had not yet been imported from India) nor parsley (which was likely used only for medicinal purposes).
The four course menu is set to feature a choice of barley and leek soup or almond and flax soup, followed by a choice of salads (barley salad, cucumber-pistachio salad, or “sweet and sour” salad). The entree course will be a choice of lamb, duck, or emmer (an ancient grain, served as the vegan entree option), and the dessert course will offer either spiced emmer cake or “mersu” (usually a combination of dates and nuts) served three ways.
Dinner is to be served at Lucha Cartel (207 Chestnut Street), and the $45 tickets can be purchased here.
Tickets are already dwindling so don’t dally. And as for the next cuisine to be explored? That hasn’t been decided–though Mayan was mentioned as a possibility.
Ancient Babylonian Dinner [Tickets]
