Mesopotamia, located in the areas between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris inhabited by numerous tribes like the Sumerians, Akkadians, Assyrians, Amorites, Hurrians, Kassites, Chaldeans was an area where the first civilization was born, and where there was evidence of human presence dating back 100 thousand years. After a period of hunter-gatherer society started a period of agriculture and settlement, allowing the ability to support an increasingly large population. Since the 10th century BC, there were grown wheat, millet and barley. Then a man domesticated new varieties of plants and animals, and cultivated grain legumes, figs, and grapes.

That is where the first known prescription comes. These can be treated as the beginning of the cookbook, recorded on cuneiform clay tablets. These amazing materials discovered, mainly in the nineteenth century, have been given by their discoverers to the British Library, the Library of Congress, as well as many university centers especially in the United States, like Cornell University, Yale University.

On the stored in the Yale University Library three clay tables with cuneiform script made ca 1750 BC, there is written 35 recipes of dishes popular among the Akkadians. It took many years of many scholars research, including French historian Jean Bottero, to reveal culinary customs of the Babylonians. Recipes dating back to the reign of King Hammurabi written by an unknown writer - the cooks were intended rather for the advanced cooks, as they contained brief information concerning mainly the components, without measuring metrics and detailed instructions for the preparation of dishes. These were mainly meat dishes designed more for the upper class, with many spices, but without salt. On the menu they were also fish, although there is no consensus in the reading, whether it was fresh or smoked fish. (Carter, 1985). research of many scholars, including French historian Jean Bottero, after painstaking research resulted in an approximation culinary customs of the Babylonians. Recipes dating back to the reign of King Hammurabi written by unknown writers - the cooks were intended rather for advanced culinary arts, as they contained brief information concerning mainly the components, without measuring metrics and detailed instructions for the preparation of dishes. These were mainly meat dishes designed rather for the upper class, with many spices, but without salt. On the menu was also listed fish, although there is no consensus in the reading, whether it was fresh or smoked fish (Carter, 1985).

The predominant was a type of stew prepared with meat from different animal species - popular sheep, chickens, or more exclusive gazelle and frankolin birds, with addition of spices among which was popular onion or leek and garlic. Babylonians also added vegetables to the broth. On the clay tablets is also listed the borscht prepared with lamb and beetroots with garlic and beer. The other spices include cumin and coriander. All dishes were easy to cook over an open fire. Turnip meal was combined with lard, leeks and arugula (Van Wittenberghe 2015).

In addition to recipes from the Yale collection it is also known a clay tablet with information about beer, a popular drink. Its production description is rather enigmatic. Much better is known a hymn to Nikasi, the goddess of beer, which contains information on ingredients undergoing the fermentation process. Among them were listed bread, grapes and honey (Sumerian Beer 2012).

More information on culinary entries from cuneiform tablets can be found in the cited literature. We also recommend to visit an exhibition prepared by the Yale University which kindly accepted presentation on our exhibition two of the clay tablesf rom the Yale Babylonian Collection: https://www.library.yale.edu/neareast/exhibitions/cuisine.html.