Welcome to Celtnet's Ancient Recipes Page — This page details the various pre-Roman recipes that are either written in the historical record or have been re-created based on the archaeological evidence. Some of the recipes are based on traditional cooking methods still used by peoples elsewhere on the globe. By its very nature the production of ancient recipes is a process of re-construction. Without written records we cannot truly know what our ancient ancestors ate, nor, indeed, exactly how prepared their food for cooking. But archaeology and mythology can tell us the types of cooking methods employed and the kinds of food that were eaten. For example, cauldrons feature in a host of Celtic legends and the remains of central hearths and fire pits have been found across Europe.

These ancient recipes are derived from peoples and cultures all around the world. They demonstrate just how fundamental food is to humans — and that's not just food for fuel, it's food as an expression of human culture. It's about the flavour of food and how various spices and herbs can enhance food. It's also about how the quest for flavouring food has driven human civilization — for good and ill.

If we add to this the knowledge of the foods available at different periods of history (based on remains in middens and refuse tips, pollen evidence and animal bones) we can begin to reconstruct the foods of the past. Of course, these recipes can only give you a feel for the cooking of the past, for we know that the ingredients are authentic and we know that the cooking techniques are authentic but we can never know how these foods were put together in the past. Even then, these recipes should help you become closer to our ancient ancestors and will help you understand them better.