What is the oldest foodstuff that is still eaten that requires two or more ingredients in certain porportions. IOW, something more complex than “burn the meat until it’s edible.” My guesses:
Wine: It’s been around since before Biblical times. I imagine that there’s more to it than just putting the grape juice in a container and awaiting results. Don’t you have to add a precise amout of yeast at precisely the right time?
Beer: IIRC something akin to beer was found in Egyptian tombs.
Bread: Also since before Biblical times, and bread requires grains and yeast in precise porportions.
What is the oldest written recipe? IOW, what document, papyrus scroll, pottery shard, etc. is the oldest written manuscript that tells how to make a food product? Something that says “Take a portion of this, and a different portion of that [etc. etc. etc.], and combine them and do something to them [ie. cook, stir, etc.] for a period of time”? I imagine it’s comparatively recent; ISTR reading somewhere that the earliest cookbooks, such as they were, are from around 1500 A.D. That would seem to make sense, as something as vital as cooking would have been passed down through oral tradition.
I think for a long time wine was made using the natural yeasts occuring on the grapes, so I don’t know if that counts.
Does water qualify as an ingredient? My guess would be some kind of unleavened bread made from pounded grain, acorns, etc. mixed with water and cooked on a rock or something similar.
Dunno if this counts as a “recipe” as such, but, Exodus 29:2:
Also, the earliest cookbook (depending on how you’re defining “cookbook”) is generally considered to be the Roman cookbook by Apicius, probably 4th or 5th century A.D.
Pretty sure there are some surviving pre-Biblical Egyptian bread-making writings (or depictions) - I remember a researcher rediscovering their methods in a Natgeo article, although actually, making basic bread is rather simple and may first have been achieved by accident.
According to The Economist, the oldest recipe is a 3800-year-old Sumerian beer recipe. Later in the article they talk about Dogfish Head Brewery’s Midas Touch Golden Elixir, which, while not based on a recipe, is based on the 3500-year-old residue found in drinking vessels found in Midas’ tomb. I’ve had it, and it’s interesting stuff, somewhat like a barleywine with a bit of mead thrown in.