Bazonka on Wikimedia

We all love food, and it seems that for thousands of years, people have enjoyed a good meal and communed over a bountiful feast. The simple act of planning and preserving food, as well as sitting down to enjoy a meal, is ingrained into our very existence as humans. Archaeologists and food historians discover these ancient gastronomic gems every year, and it's not only fascinating to see what our ancestors were eating, but to see how they were preserving and preparing food to last for centuries. Some of these finds are absolutely incredible, and allow us to, quite literally, taste the past.

2400-Year-Old Noodle Bowl

Jakub Dziubak on Unsplash

One of the most impressive ancient meals ever discovered is a 2,400-year-old bowl of soup. Chinese archaeologists made the discovery of the sealed bronze cooking pot in a tomb on the outskirts of the ancient capital Xi’an. The city is known for its terracotta army and was the political center of Qin Shihuang, who first united China as an empire in 221 B.C.

The 8-inch-tall, three-legged bronze pot would have been used for cooking and serving meat. The ancient soup inside, which contained several bones, was liquid when it was opened by researchers. It had turned green from oxidation of the bronze, but the contents had not evaporated because the tomb seal was so tight.

This soup is not the oldest food ever discovered in a pot. Five years earlier, a 4,000-year-old pot was found near China’s Yellow River. The pot contained noodles, a discovery that revealed just how far back Chinese culinary traditions can be traced.

2000-Year-Old Beef Jerky

Martin Boujon on Unsplash

Old ways of preserving beef have been around just as long. The beef jerky found was cooked and dehydrated about 2,000 years ago, stored in a bronze pot. The tomb where the beef jerky was found has been dated to the Warring States Period (475–221 B.C.), according to the local Xi’an Lintong District Cultural Relics Bureau. Hu Songmei, a paleontologist with the provincial archaeological institute, told China.org, "It was verified through several months of high-tech testing." The meat was mostly charred, but the scientists were still able to identify the original product as beef.

This discovery is a fine example of the advanced ways early humans were using to preserve their food. Drying meats and other protein-rich foods has been a mainstay in extending the shelf life of such products since ancient times.

Egyptian Tomb Cheese

Artfox Photography on Unsplash

There is certainly plenty to discover in the ancient tombs of pharaohs long gone. But tomb cheese probably wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card. Regardless, while excavating the tomb of Ptahmes in 2013 and 2014, archaeologists made a surprising discovery. Hidden within the ancient walls were jars of cheese. Further testing revealed this cheese was made from either goat or sheep milk and was an astonishing 3,200 years old. This find is made even more impressive by the fact that, prior to this, it was believed that Egyptians didn’t produce cheese. The researchers investigating the cheese also found traces of disease-causing bacteria within the sample.