Did you know one of the world’s oldest cookbooks isn’t a book at all — but four clay tablets?
- Talya
- 3 days ago
- 2 min read
Long before modern cookbooks, there were the Yale Culinary Tablets — ancient Babylonian clay tablets that preserve some of the world’s oldest known written recipes. Housed at Yale University as part of the Yale Babylonian Collection, these cuneiform tablets open a window into the ancient kitchen. While little is known about their origin, it is presumed that they were likely excavated from Southern Mesopotamia or modern day Iraq. Written in Akkadian text, they were first believed to have been medical or ritual tablets when first examined in the early 20th century. However, the official translation published in 1987 revealed them to be recipes that included stews, broths, breads and cakes. There are four tablets held in the collection. They are not one uniform work. They appear to have been written by different people and may have come from different origins. Three tablets date back to the Old Babylonian period, around 1730-1750 BCE. The fourth was from a later Neo-Babylonian period, almost 1,000 years separating them. They contain roughly 40 recipes collectively, although many of them are only partially preserved. The best preserved tablet contains recipes for 25 stews, consisting of 21 meat-based and 4 vegetable. These tablets are archaeological evidence that people were recording recipes, refining techniques, and preserving food traditions thousands of years ago. From ancient Mesopotamia to today, the table has always carried more than food — it carries memory, identity, and the human need to gather and share. Every recipe is a little piece of history. A history that reminds us that the table is where culture lives. It has connected generations. Through these clay tablets, the ancient kitchen is still telling a story today. In 2018, New York University held an event titled “An Appetite for the Past” at their Institute for the Study of the Ancient World Conference. A team of researchers from Yale and other universities collaborated at the event to cook 3 of the recipes from the Yale Culinary Tablets. I will share a link down below to a short clip highlighting the event. It also includes detailed instructions for the recipes. It was quite interesting! Check it out!
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