The nomadic Bedouin have produced a dry, hard labneh since ancient times, pressing it in cheesecloth between two heavy stones before sun-drying. This was an effective way to provide sustenance on journeys without worrying about supplies spoiling.

In ancient times, wild boar was popular. Today, it’s strips of shoulder cut pork. The dish’s trademark red color is accomplished with a marinade of red fermented bean curd, hoisin sauce, and soy sauce. In modern preparations, red food coloring is sometimes used — but not in this recipe. Instead slightly spicy chili crisp oil is added, for both color and flavor.

In the Edo period, people would thread tuna and spring onion onto a skewer and barbecue — giving us the word Negima. “Negi” means spring onion while “ma” represents the first syllable of maguro, or tuna. Today, chicken is the more popular option.

Victor Hirtzler claimed to have created a dish for King Carlos I of Portugal, called La Mousse Faisan Lucullus, which was so expensive and requested by the King so frequently, that he bankrupted Portugal twice and was assassinated in 1908.

The publisher of The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book limited the first edition to 3,000 copies, and they were financed at Fannie Farmer’s expense. However, the author and book became so popular that later editions were referred to as simply The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, and it is still available in print over 100 years later.

In the Western world, the concept of a restaurant as a public venue where waiting staff serve patrons food from a fixed menu is a relatively recent one, dating from France in the late 18th century.

As Ichabod jogged on his way, his eye ranged with delight over the treasures of jolly autumn. He passed the fragrant buckwheat fields breathing the odor of the beehive. Soft anticipations stole over his mind of dainty slapjacks, well buttered, and garnished with honey or treacle, by the delicate little dimpled hand of Katrina Van Tassel.

Frederick the Great, king of Prussia, strove successfully to overcome farmers' skepticism about the potato, and in 1756 he issued an official proclamation mandating its cultivation. This Kartoffelbefehl (potato order) termed the unfamiliar tuber "a very nutritious food supplement." Frederick was sometimes known as the Kartoffelkönig, or Potato King.

To Baal they made sacrifices of criminals or prisoners of war, often burning them alive in wicker images. These bonfires lighted on the hills were meant to urge the god to protect and bless the crops and herds. From the appearance of the victims sacrificed, omens were taken that foretold the future.

Pullum Parthicum, or Chicken, Parthian-Style, can be found in the sixth book Aëropetes. It’s a dish of fried chicken, simmered in a wine and herb sauce featuring laser, lovage, and caraway. It hails from the vast Parthian Empire, a major political power based in ancient Iran, located on the Silk Road trade route between the Roman Empire and China’s Han dynasty.

Translated to "surprise spiced wine," Conditum Paradoxum was one of ancient Rome's most popular wine drinks, transformed with the aromas and flavors of mastic, honey, saffron, pepper, and dates. In the Levant of the 4th-century CE, a simplified version was made with just wine, honey and peppercorns.