Fancy Food in Daphnis and Chloe

After that last post on Daphnis' and Chloe's favorite food, we need to look at what the other characters in the story eat. Dionysophanes, the wealthy owner of the farm, puts on a feast of wine, wheat meal, marsh birds, suckling pigs, and many colored honey cakes (or perhaps honey cakes of different colors) (4.26.1). That does sound like a delicious meal. Wheat meal, you ask? Well, that could be a bowl of wheat berries as opposed to barley groats, (which would be fancier) and could be farro - the principle food of Egypt and Italy. Or, it could be flour with which to make bread, again pointing out that it is not barley and is ready for baking. Different kinds of bread do seem to play a narrative role in the story by being associated with different characters. What are these different honey cakes, you ask? I will make some over break and we will get that post up. I ate a suckling pig once. It was amazing. I will get some pictures. This would be a really good meal. But, if you want to be a really good person, you should prefer bread and cheese!