Eating the Food of Homer's Odyssey

[00:00] I feel like most people know at least the basic plot. Essentially, Odysseus is on a really long trip home after the Trojan War. but what usually gets overlooked is that  he also eats a lot of food along the way.

[00:15] So today I am going to recreate two of the dishes  that are served to Odysseus on his journey home. So thank you to Wildgrain for sponsoring this  video as we cook for Odysseus, Eh, still Tasting History.

[00:36] So, when I decided to cook something from  the 'Odyssey', I knew that I had to do two dishes. Something new, of course, but then also this was just the perfect opportunity unpleasant things I've ever made here on the channel,

[00:51] kykeon. Now I first made that way back  in 2020 when I first started the channel. And the version that I made was more  based on the description from the 'Iliad'.  Now, I did make an updated version in the 'Tasting  History' cookbook, but even that was still really

[01:10] thick and probably should be best eaten  with a spoon rather than drunk out of a cup. But the version that is described in the 'Odyssey'  is definitely a drinkable potion. The drink is   mentioned in book 10 when Odysseus and his  crew find themselves on the aisle of Aeaea,  

[01:25] which while a mythical island is often suggested  to have been off the coast of Italy south of Rome. Mount Circeo taking its name from the sorceress who lived there, Circe. Not to be confused with my cat Cersei, who is  actually named after Cersei from 'The Game of Thrones'.

[01:39] his crew end up meeting Circe, who invites them so kindly into her home. she set them upon chairs and benches, and  mixed a mess of cheese and barley meal,

[01:53] but then drugged it with wicked poisons to make them utterly forget their homes. And when they drank the potion she turned them into pigs with her wand,   and Circe flung them some acorns, fruit, and  mast - food greedily eaten by swallowing swine."

[02:12] Maybe it was that she was trying to neutralize them. She saw them as a   Regardless, what sucks for them is that while they  looked like pigs, they still had the minds of men.

[02:29] So that's depressing because they remembered  everything that had happened to them. Now eventually Odysseus would also be given this kykeon, but he did not have the effects that they did because  he had been given an antidote by the god Mercury.

[02:45] "Plucked from the ground... black at the root, while the flower was white in milk. The gods call it moly, and to dig it up is a great labor for mortal men, Now despite what my doting mother says,  

[02:58] I am but a mortal man, and so I was unable to dig up this moly root. So I'm going to not include any of the wicked  poisons that Circe added to her concoction. So for this non-wickedly poisoned version of kykeon, what you'll need is

[03:14] 1/2 cup or 120 ml of Pramnian wine. So, I'm guessing like me,   And I think you do have to say it Pramnian, but that was the wine that grew on Mount Pramnos on the island of Ikaria.

[03:30] And it was the wine that was said to be associated with the god of wine, Dionysus. Aristophanes said that it was a hard wine And therefore it should never be drunk without watering it down.

[03:47] You can't drink this wine straight. That is how strong it is. So find the darkest and the driest red wine that you can and then mix it with some water. I am going half wine, half water. Then you'll need  1 tbsp of grated hard goat cheese like Kefalotyri.

[04:05] And you don't want to use pre-grated cheese because it does not melt as well. Unfortunately, it seems that my neck of the  woods is having like a Greek cheese shortage   because I called all around. I couldn't find any  that wasn't pre-grated so that's what I'm using,

[04:18] and I just have to go into this knowing that. So, do as I say and not as I do. Then, 1/4 cup or 85 grams of honey and two tablespoons of barley flour. So start by toasting the barley flour in a dry  pan over medium heat for four to five minutes,  

[04:32] just until it starts to darken up and becomes fragrant. And then once it does,   And I'm realizing now that I could have just toasted it in   that saucepan so I didn't have to dirty up two pans, but here we are

[04:45] just to warm the honey and then mix the flour and the honey together. you can add in the cheese which should... Again, mine wasn't great,  

[05:00] but eventually it did melt enough that I could add in my watered down wine. and then it can be drunk whenever you're ready to turn your guests into swine. Now like I said this is a very different consistency than the one that I made back in 2020.

[05:16] That one was more porridge-like partly because  of the wine to barley ratio that I used, and partly because I used full barley groats back   And in today's version I am making I'm using  

[05:32] barley flour or barley meal which is more like what you would use to make a bread or something like that. And  they still use it today in parts of Greece,   namely on the aisle of Crete to make a sort of hard barley bread.

[05:46] They call them paximadia or barley rusks, but really they're barley hardtack. I bought these when I was in Greece in 2023, 3 years ago,  

[05:58] and they're still just as hard as they were the day that I bought them. So   good job to these, for their staying power. Now,  if you don't want really hard barley bread, then

[06:10] you want to probably make your own bread  at home, like a nice soft wheat bread,   a sourdough perhaps, using the bread  from today's sponsor, Wildgrain. My favorite day of the month now is  when my Wildgrain box arrives at my door

[06:24] because I know that within 20, 25 minutes, my  entire house is just going to smell like a bakery. Because Wildgrain is the first bake from  frozen subscription box that gathers breads,   pastas, and artisal pastries from  small bakers around the country

[06:39] And so all you have to do is take the dough and   put it in the oven and actually do the  baking. 20, 25 minutes and you're done. And the finished products are always unbelievable.  They've got wonderful pastries again,

[06:55] like the the croissants and they have  biscuits and the best chocolate chip cookies. I know I'm always saying this, but seriously,  the best chocolate chip cookies. I've started   to double up my order every time I get  it, and I still eat every darn cookie.

[07:10] They also offer a number of gluten-free options  and vegan options, and they have protein boxes So check out Wildgrain by clicking my link in  the description, wildgrain.com/tastinghistory,

[07:24] or just click this QR code. And new customers  will get $30 off of their first box,   plus free croissants for life. And now  on to our next dish. So after Circe turns  

[07:36] the crew back into humans, from pigs to  humans, they kind of hang around for a   while. Actually, a long while because it  turns out Odysseus has the hots for her.

[07:48] So they're there for a whole year. When  they eventually do leave, though, they go through a bunch of different  stuff. Odysseus goes to the Underworld. the passage between the monster  Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis

[08:03] before ending up on an island filled  with the sun god's sacred cattle. One of these men kills and eats one  of the cattle, and in retribution,   and kills all of the crew save for Odysseus.  

[08:17] So when Odysseus finally does get back  to Ithaca where he's actually the king but has been gone for about  20 years, he is alas alone. Odysseus does not just waltz  on into his old palace and say,

[08:33] since he's been gone, a bunch of  suitors have kind of taken over   the place and are eating all of his  food and are wooing his wife Penelope. Instead, Athena turns him into a beggar  or kind of makes him look like a beggar

[08:49] and sends him to his faithful servant and swine  herd, Eumaeus's house. And here, Eumaeus shows him   some of the first truly selfless hospitality  that Odysseus has experienced in decades.

[09:01] Choosing two sucklings, he carried them  in, slaughtered and singed them both,   then cut them in pieces, and  spitted them on skewers. Then,   when all was well roasted, he served it  to Odysseus, piping hot on the skewers,

[09:17] sprinkling the meat with white barley meal.  Then he mixed honey sweet wine in a bowl of ivy, urging him: 'Eat now, stranger - this is  food that a servant can offer - suckling pig.

[09:30] men that regard not the wrath of  the gods, nor the call of compassion." Now while I could just roast a piece of pork plain  and then sprinkle some raw barley flour over it,

[09:47] it's going to be pretty gross - rather tasteless.  And really, the sprinkling of the barley flour was   actually part of a religious thing. They would  do that in sacrifices and things like that.

[09:59] more barley flour and actually  coat the pork for some flavor. we know were being used during this period.

[10:11] period that the 'Odyssey' is  supposed to be taking place, the Mycenaean period about 1650 to 1100 BC. Archaeology from palaces of this  time show that coriander, cumin,  

[10:26] And while eaten by the wealthy, they would have  also been something I think commonly available to   the common man like a swine herd, so we're going  to use some of those just to flavor up this pork.

[10:41] So to make this pork dish served by  Eumaeus to Odysseus, what you'll need is 3/4 pound or 340 grams of pork, any cut will do. 1 tbsp of olive oil, 2 tsps of salt, 1/2  cup or 70 grams of barley flour,

[10:56] 1 tsp coriander, 2 teaspoons celery seed  and a 1/2 teaspoon of cumin or fennel. Both are very dominant flavors, so I  wouldn't use both. I'd just pick one. in the olive oil and sprinkle with  plenty of salt, rubbing it in.

[11:14] Then leave those to sit for about  10 minutes while you add the herbs   And then toss a few pieces of the pork into  the flour mixture and get them coated all over. Then skewer each piece until  an entire skewer is filled up.

[11:29] if you have a barbecue or if  you want to use your oven, you can pop it in the oven at 425° F, 220° C. Then roast them for about 18 to 20 minutes or  until the pork is cooked all the way through.

[11:44] It really does actually help get it  out there. It helps the channel more   than I can tell you or as much as I  just told you. And I can take a look-

[11:56] rather we can take a look at the other  foods mentioned in the 'Odyssey'. Homer's 'Odyssey' is absolutely filled  with talk of food, so I'm not going to  

[12:08] cover everything because we'd be here all  day. Plus, it does kind of get repetitive. They ate these same kind of things  pretty much throughout. So I'm going   to pinpoint a couple of the most important  instances where they eat something where  

[12:22] we can also glean something about  what the Greeks of this period,   or probably actually Homer's period which was some  centuries later were thinking about food because

[12:34] actually the food in the 'Odyssey' is not at all  indicative of what the average person was eating, or even the wealthy people of  Greece were eating at the time. Even though there are a few mentions  of hunting, fishing, seafood,  

[12:50] fruits, vegetables, they are sparse,  even though those were all staples of   the diet. What you hear a lot more  about is meat, namely beef, wine,  

[13:02] and bread. And the beef, or rather really any  meat that is mentioned, is only ever cooked   roasted. It's never boiled, which would be the  more common way to cook meat in years to come.

[13:15] In fact, Athenaeus, who lived a  thousand years, give or take,   "Where does Homer say that  any of the Achaeans ate fish? So I think it's most interesting to explore those  times when either they were eating forbidden beef

[13:33] or when they were forced to eat other meat like  when they were on the island of the Cyclops. which is the home of the one eyed  race of giants known as the Cyclops.

[13:48] And in need of food, they end up at the  cave of one of the Cyclops named Polyphemus. 15th century terracotta figurine of Polyphemus,

[14:00] which I can only imagine was the inspiration for  the alien in the 1980s movie 'Mac and Me.' Anyway, Polyphemus was a  shepherd of sheep and goats. Greek hero could eat, they  were really a B tier meat.

[14:15] The S tier meat being beef, of course,  but in a pinch they could eat that. But the thing is those meats were really  more associated with kind of common people. Even more common was the fact that Polyphemus  was taking the milk of these animals and making  

[14:32] cheese. Again, people were eating cheese  during this period, people in all tiers. We know from archaeologists that everybody  was eating cheese. But in literature,   it's seen as a food for the common  people. But when you are starving,  

[14:49] you are allowed to eat anything, I guess. And so, Odysseus and his men creep  into the cave of Polyphemus. he had more lambs and kids  than his pens could hold...

[15:03] bowls, and milk pales into which  he milked were swimming with whey. When they saw all this, my men begged me  to let them first steal some cheeses,   they would then return, drive down the lambs and  kids, put them on board and sail away with them."

[15:21] It really kind of makes you feel  bad for Polyphemus. He's just gone   through all of this work to raise  these sheep and goats and milk them   and make the cheese and then these  yahoos come in and steal everything.

[15:34] At this point, he is the one who has been wronged,   but he's about to do something that really  kind of makes the audience turn on him. Odysseus and then takes two of  the men and smashes them into  

[15:50] the ground. "Then he tore them limb  from limb and made ready his supper. marrow, and entrails,without  leaving anything uneaten...

[16:02] with human flesh, he washed it  down with a drink of milk..." And here too we get an insight into what the  Greeks of the time were eating and specifically  

[16:14] drinking. Because in order to escape, Odysseus  decides he needs to get this cyclops drunk. And so he pulls out a wine which is  supposed to be the best kind of wine.

[16:27] It was given to him by the Thracian  Maron for thanking him for not killing him. "Maron... gave me seven talents of  fine gold, in a silver mixing bowl,   with twelve jars of sweet wine, unblended,  and of the most exquisite flavor....

[16:42] When he drank it, he mixed twenty parts of water to one of wine, so marvelously sweet that it was impossible to stop from drinking." As I mentioned earlier, the Greeks would always water down their wine.  

[16:57] Only barbarians drank undiluted wine, but usually it was, you know,   one part wine, maybe two parts water,  three parts water, four parts water. So a wine that needs twenty parts water has to be something really, really strong.

[17:13] But that means it is the perfect wine to  get a cyclops drunk when drunk undiluted. So after Polyphemus has several bowls of it, he passes out, giving Odysseus the opportunity to stab him in  his one eye so that they could make their escape.

[17:30] it turns out that Polyphemus had like a really famous and powerful dad, Poseidon, the god of earthquakes and the sea. And so when Poseidon learned  

[17:43] that Odysseus had poked his son's eye out, he got mad and basically said, okay, well, your trip back to Ithaca is going to be a very unpleasant one. So the next time that Odysseus had the opportunity  to annoy one of the gods, he really tried

[18:01] He was even warned two times to not make this mistake again.   The first was when he was in the Underworld and the  blind prophet Tiresias told him that

[18:14] you already made Poseidon mad, but I think- I think that you can still make it home to Ithaca all right. You and your men as long as you don't screw things  up when you're on the island of Thrinacia.

[18:27] "There you will find the sheep and cattle belonging to the sun-god Helios, who sees and hears all. If you leave these flocks and herds unharmed, you may  yet after much hardship, reach Ithaca.

[18:39] But if you harm them, I predict the complete destruction of your ship and your men and when you arrive, in another's ship, you will find your home overrun by men eating your food and wooing your wife."

[18:53] Now the audience already knows that this is happening.  We have seen that his home is overrun by a bunch   of suitors who are eating all of his food and who  are wooing his wife Penelope. But at this point,  

[19:07] Odysseus doesn't know that. So, he still has  some hope that uh things might turn out just dandy.   Now Odysseus sees Circe, the sorceress, again, and she too warns him, you're going to run into some cows

[19:25] that belong to Helios. Don't touch those cows. Don't do it. And so maybe because she felt bad about turning his crew into pigs, she even gave them a bunch of food so that they wouldn't be tempted to eat those darn cows.

[19:39] Unfortunately, they ate pretty much all of the food. But "They were forced to wander in search of game, fish, and foul, whatever might come to their hands.

[19:52] Now today we might think of fishing and hunting as manly pursuits, but in Homer's time less so because they were the pursuits of the common people.   Wealthy, or heroes, didn't need to hunt for their  food or fish for their food because

[20:10] they had domesticated animals that were there to feed them. It was only poor people who couldn't afford those animals that had to do the hunting and fishing. But again, they were hungry and so they needed to do what they needed to do. Unfortunately, in every group,

[20:27] there is always someone who screws it up for everyone else. And on Odysseus's crew, that man was Eurylochus. While Odysseus was sleeping, Eurylochus convinced the others that so long as they sacrificed one of the cows to the gods 

[20:41] and then promised to build a temple to Helios when  they got back to Ithaca, they should be good to eat just one of them. And while this was a bad thing for them and for Odysseus, it's a good thing for us

[20:53] because it's going to give us a glimpse into the sacrificial practices of the day in some decent detail.   Essentially, they get the cow and then they stand around it and pray and take oak leaves

[21:08] and put it onto it because they had run out of barley. And originally,   "After they prayed they killed the cows and butchered them; they cut out slices of the thigh,

[21:21] wrapped them in two layers of fat, and laid pieces of raw meat on top of them. They had no pure wine to pour over the flaming sacrifices, so kept pouring on a little water from time to time and roasted the entrails over the fire. When the thighs  were done and they had tasted the inner parts,  

[21:38] they cut the rest up small and put the pieces on spits." Now for me, waking up to the smell of bacon cooking is just one of the best experiences a person can have. For Odysseus, waking up to the smell of beef cooking was really not a good thing.

[21:55] And he says a little prayer to the gods who were going to be mad and then goes and chastises his men and then kind of resigns himself to the fact that they are screwed.

[22:08] Then they actually keep eating the cows. They kill like six more, but eventually they get off the island and Zeus sends a thunderbolt and destroys their ship, kills all of the men. Odysseus is the only one that survives.

[22:22] Eventually, he makes it alone to Ithaca where Eumaeus makes him a dish, And here we are the kykeon and roast pork with barley  served to Odysseus in Homer's 'Odyssey'.

[22:38] So I'm going to start with a piece of the pork here. I'm not sure that like the crusting is actually going to make like a crunchy crust, but it does- it is going to give it some texture.   And again, it's there more for the flavor. Smells  good. Definitely smells like the cumin.  

[22:56] That is the dominant odor. If you're going to use fennel, that's going to be the dominant odor. So you don't really need that much in comparison  with the other spices. Here we go. [chomp chomp]

[23:11] Simple, but rather flavorful. I think if it was over an open fire, even better. You're going to get a lot more of the, you know, open fire flavors.

[23:26] But the pork is nicely done. And now, my friends, the kykeon. I am having flashbacks to the first time that I drank this.

[23:41] This is much more liquidy. It is more like a thick  wine rather than a watery porridge. It's a pretty color. There are still a bit  of pieces of cheese kind of floating in it,  

[23:54] but I think a good deal of it kind of integrated. Anyway, cheers.

[24:10] Okay. I actually think that I saved this. That I've made a version that is something a human would want to consume.

[24:29] Has a lot more honey in it. The wine is watered down, so it just mixes better. It's not super strong of any one flavor. The thickness from the barley flour, it is thicker than regular wine would be,

[24:45] but it's not chunky like when you use full groats. The cheese is not necessary. Not just because of- there is kind of a texture to some of the pieces that haven't melted, but

[25:02] it's more that it's just it's a rather salty cheese and they would have all been rather salty. But it's actually pretty good. Not so good that I actually need to keep drinking it, but I don't hate it.

[25:16] And I hated the first one. I will say that. So I'm going to call that a win in my book. No wicked poisons, no baneful potions, so there is that. But,

[25:35] you know, other than that, it's pretty spot-on, I think. Who knows? Homer was not really writing a recipe book. He was just writing down, you know, we were lucky to even get the information  that he actually left us.

[25:49] Anyway I think that I'm also going to do a video on  maybe what the Trojans would have been eating,   what we know about Trojan food. So

[26:02] maybe keep an eye out for that. I haven't started the research and I never really know. So, I maybe I shouldn't even mention this. Hopefully I find some good information. I can  make a Trojan meal from the 'Iliad'. Anyway,  

[26:16] I'll see you next time on Tasting Mythology on Tasting History.