The Lost Kings Of Our Tables
Every plate tells a story, and while it may not always be a grand epic of empires or kings, these dishes relay the quieter tale of what ordinary people once ate, traded, and craved. Some foods on this list had their centerpiece moment as the backbone of entire civilizations. That they are no longer on your plate is not necessarily because they weren’t delicious, but because tastes shifted, trade routes disappeared, and new crops outcompeted them. Here are twenty foods that once ruled kitchens and marketplaces but have slipped from our modern menus into obscurity, with only crumbs left behind.
1. Silphium
This herb was so loved in ancient Rome it was stamped on coins and harvested to extinction. At one point it was used for everything—from condiment to medicine to birth control. Its taste has been described as somewhere between fennel and garlic, pungent but irresistible.
Krzysztof Ziarnek, Kenraiz on Wikimedia
2. Amaranth
The Aztecs saw this grain as sacred, shaping it into ritual cakes with honey and even human blood. Spanish conquerors banned it, despising its role in their religious ceremonies. Today it lingers on in health stores as a superfood, but centuries ago it was as common as wheat.
3. Garum
This fermented fish sauce was poured on everything from meats to porridge. Factories lined the Mediterranean coast, stinking to the heavens, yet fortunes were made from its sharp, briny taste. The closest thing that endures today is Southeast Asian fish sauce.
4. Spelt
This is wheat’s older cousin. This nutty and dense grain sustained whole armies and villagers alike in medieval Europe. Then higher-yield wheat took over and spelt retreated into the margins of history. These days, it resurfaces occasionally in artisanal breads, but for centuries it was entirely neglected.
5. Trenchers
This consisted of edible plates made from stale bread. During feasts, stews and roasts were spooned onto these thick slabs of bread and were eaten at the end or tossed to the poor. The trencher was medieval tableware that you could chew.
6. Pease Porridge
This was a mush of dried peas, simmered until thick. It was cheap, filling, and a staple for centuries. We’ve since swapped it for mashed potatoes and lentil soups, but pease porridge once carried whole families.
7. Salsify
Called the “oyster plant” for its faintly marine flavor, this root vegetable was beloved in Victorian kitchens. It could be creamed, fried, or tucked into soups. Eventually, potatoes, carrots, and parsnips crowded it out of the pantry. Every so often it appears at a farmer’s market, a snapshot from another era.
8. Posca
This was sour wine diluted with water and herbs, a Roman soldier’s drink. It was cheap and bracing. It was nothing glamorous, but it kept the legions hydrated on dusty roads. Wine was reserved for the elite members of the military, and posca was issued for the rank-and-file.
9. Teff
This tiny grain from Ethiopia was nutritious beyond belief and served as the backbone of injera bread. It was spongy and tangy, and doubled as both plate and utensil. For Ethiopians it never disappeared, but globally it was all but invisible until recently.
No machine-readable author provided. Rasbak assumed (based on copyright claims). on Wikimedia
10. Barberries
These tart red berries were once common in Middle Eastern and European cooking, flavoring stews, rices, and sauces. In Persian cuisine they still make an appearance in jeweled rice, but in the West they’ve all but vanished.
Zura Narimanishvili on Unsplash
11. Roast Peacock
Medieval banquets adored spectacle, and a roasted peacock, feathers reattached for display, was the height of status. The meat was tough, gamey, and not especially pleasant, but the theater of the dish was more important than the taste.
12. Salt Cod
Before refrigeration, this was an international currency, and dried and salted cod from Newfoundland fed Europe and beyond. It was incorporated into stews in Portugal, brandade in France, and ackee and saltfish in Jamaica. Once essential, the fish was harvested almost to extinction, and is now protected.
13. Chestnuts
Before potatoes dominated European dishes, chestnuts were the go-to staple. They could be ground into flour, boiled, or roasted, and whole villages depended on them. Walk through a mountain town in Italy or France and you can still see chestnut groves, remnants of a food economy that is now largely forgotten.
14. Sago
A starch from tropical palms, sago was once the basis of puddings and thickened dishes in colonial kitchens. It had its heyday in Victorian cookbooks, especially in England. Today you’d struggle to find it outside specialty shops. Tapioca replaced it, being both smoother and easier to source.
15. Parched Corn
Think of parched corn as the original trail mix. Corn kernels were roasted until crunchy and enjoyed by Indigenous peoples and later by explorers and soldiers. It was portable, filling, and resistant to spoilage. It’s still sold today as a novelty snack, but it once was survival food.
16. Calf’s Foot Jelly
An oddity by today’s standards, but in 18th- and 19th-century households it was a common dish. Boiled calves’ feet produced gelatin, which could then be set into sweet or savory jellies. It sounds vile today, but for people without access to commercial gelatin, it was a valuable resource.
17. Grains Of Paradise
This West African spice was both peppery and citrusy, and once rivaled black pepper in European markets. Merchants prized it so highly it was taxed like gold. Eventually, black pepper became cheaper and easier to trade, pushing this exotic spice to the sidelines.
18. Sorghum Syrup
This thick, dark, molasses-like syrup was pressed from sorghum cane. In the American South, it was used to sweeten biscuits, porridge, and cakes before sugar became the dominant sweetener.
19. Skirret
This root vegetable has been almost entirely forgotten and was sweet and aromatic, like a cross between a carrot and parsnip. It appeared in Tudor-era gardens and feasts, praised for its delicate flavor. The crop was fiddly though, so it vanished when easier varieties began to be cultivated.
succulentserenity on Wikimedia
20. Dormice
Yes, believe it or not, the Romans ate them. They were stuffed with nuts and honey, roasted, and served at the tables of noblemen as a delicacy. How strange to think that the animal we now regard as vermin was once a luxury food.
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