Egypt
Meat&Fish

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Meat, while daily fare on the tables of the rich, was eaten by the poor on festive occasions only if at all. Apart from game hunted in the Delta or desert, people kept various kinds of domesticated animals, some exclusively as sources of meat, such as geese, some breeds of cattle and, until the New Kingdom, Oryx antelopes for temple offerings. Every kind of meat was prepared in its own way, some boiled as stew, or roasted. One specific cut of beef for instance was called "roast".

Quails, ducks and smaller birds are salted and eaten uncooked; all other kinds of birds, as well as fish, excepting those that are sacred to the Egyptians, are eaten roasted or boiled.
Herodotus, Histories 2,77

Whatever couldn't be eaten fresh had to be preserved quickly, either by salting and brining, drying or smoking. A kind of pemmican (pounded dry meat mixed with melted fat) was sometimes made; fish roe, beer or honey were also used as preservatives.

In the Great Harris Papyrus the donation of more than a hundred thousands birds and fowl are mentioned. 57,810 pigeons, 25,020 water fowl mostly various kinds of geese and ducks, 160 cranes belonging to three different species and 21,700 quails . As opposed to this only 3,029 quadrupeds, cattle, sheep and goats were donated.

The pig is accounted by the Egyptians an abominable animal; and first, if any of them in passing by touch a pig, he goes into the river and dips himself forthwith in the water together with his garments
Herodotus, Histories II Project Gutenberg

But even if (according to Herodotus writing in the Late Period) anything and anybody connected with pigs was shunned - for instance swineherds had to intermarry - pork was frequently eaten in Egypt, about at the same rate as goat meat and mutton and probably more often than beef.

But to the Moon and to Dionysus alone at the same time and on the same full-moon they sacrifice swine, and then eat their flesh
Herodotus, Histories II Project Gutenberg

The Egyptians distinguished 15 kinds of teal and other ducks, but by Ramesside times only a few select ones were still bred. Chickens were unknown until the time of Thutmose III, who kept some in his zoo, and did not become common domestic animals until much later.

Fish

Fish, mostly dried, were part of most Egyptians' daily diet, despite the fact, that they were considered unclean by a few of the better-off Egyptians. But it is not permitted to them [i.e. the priests] to taste of fish.
Herodotus, Histories II Project Gutenberg

The Ethiopian Pharaoh Piye (716-711 BCE) wouldn't break bread with the fish eating noblemen of Lower Egypt. Offerings for the dead never included fish and during various periods the eating of certain kinds of fish was outlawed. Still, some fish were considered sacred and of fish also they esteem that which is called the lepidotos to be sacred, and also the eel; and these they say are sacred to the Nile:
Herodotus, Histories II Project Gutenberg

Some fish, like the bu and the shep, were shunned by the Egyptians because of their taste, but otherwise there were few restrictions as to their consumption. Perch, catfish (even the electric variety), carps, mullets and eels were especially important. Tilapia, elephant-snout fish, tiger fish, moon fish and many others were also eaten. [1]

Fish were cleaned, cut up, the fish eggs set apart for further treatment, and eaten boiled, roasted, pickled in brine or dried. For the inhabitants of the fens they were a major source of nourishment

Some too of these people live on fish alone, which they dry in the sun after having caught them and taken out the entrails, and then when they are dry, they use them for food.
Herodotus, Histories II Project Gutenberg

The Harris papyrus mentions the Amen temple being allotted 441,000 whole fish, mostly medium sized fish like mullet and catfish


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