You Are What Your Ancestors Ate

The concept of an Ancestral Diet refers to imitating the hunter gatherer diet or eating in a way that aligns with how our ancient ancestors would have consumed food, based on the idea that the diet of our ancestors was whole, natural food.

But to me, the ancestral diet speaks to each of us individually - what my ancestors ate is different to yours and so the specific foods it includes depend largely on the location where your ancestors lived, as well as the different food traditions, customs and knowledge of medicinal foods.

 I believe that the clues to what we should be eating are in our grandmother’s cookbook, it is in the passed-down traditions and food stories - this ancestral indigenous knowledge is our treasured heritage. 

We are so fortunate to have such abundance and a wide variety of food now, let's not forget to give thanks! Our ancestors were often struggling with food scarcity and famine. 

But with this abundance of food comes the turning from precious to a commodity sold for profit - and that is the greatest peril of our times. 

My ancestors came from Yemen.  

They ate simple peasant food, the staples were Flatbreads, Spicy Dips and a clear Chicken Broth (with the bones). The food was always spicy and common spices were Turmeric,Cinnamon, Cumin and cardamom. fresh Chillies, Mint Parsley and Coriander.

I remember having soup at my grandfather’s house one Friday night meal, dipping the pita in a spicy dip called Hilbeh and then in the soup and quickly slurping it in. After the soup we had fresh fruit and nuts for dessert, roasted sesame seeds passed around in a small bowl -  to eat them you had to wet your fingertip and pick up the seeds by touching the seeds lightly with the fingertip, they were so delicious and more-ish! It was a simple ceremony in a family meal - food tradition adds meaning and soulful-spiritual dimension to a simple act of eating together. 

The condiments of Schug and Hilbeh are added to almost every meal, they add spice and flavour to the different traditional Yemeni foods. 

Find the recipes in the recipe section on this website.

Hilbeh means Furnegreek in Arabic the fenugreek is soaked to ferment and then blended into a frothy dip, Schug is a hot and spicy dip of ground chillies and coriander. 

Keep them in a jar in the fridge and add to egg dishes such as shakshuka and turkish eggs, bean dishes, soups and stews, or as a spicy dip or sauce on its own.