Food.
There were usually three meals a day—a light breakfast, a heavier meal near midday, while the principal meal was toward the close of the day. When the family ate alone, the father reclined on a couch, the mother sat on a chair near him, and the children sat about them, the younger perhaps on the mother's lap or on the couch by the father.
The bread was made from wheat and barley and also from rye, millet, spelt, and rice. The bread sold by the bread-women in Athens had a big reputation all over Greece. Among their cakes was one made of wheat and honey, another of rice, cheese, eggs, and honey, and a third of cheese, eggs, and garlic. Beef, mutton, goat's flesh, and pork, were the most common meats. Poultry was abundant and eggs were used in various ways. There was plenty of wild game, as, the partridge, wild pigeons, wild geese, deer, hares, and wild boars. Hot sausages were greatly liked and they were sold on the streets of Athens and perhaps in other cities. Fish were abundant, both fresh-water and salt, and oysters, eels, mussels, and turtles were used as food. Among the vegetables were lettuce, spinach, cabbage, peas, beans, radishes, onions, garlic, turnips, and asparagus. The food was seasoned with salt, mustard, garlic, onions, and herbs. Honey was used as sugar with us and olive-oil and cheese took the place of butter. Of fruits there were figs, apples, quinces, peaches, pears, plums, cherries, grapes, and of nuts there were walnuts, almonds, and chestnuts. Wine was in great use and, perhaps, there was no other beverage but water as milk was not often drunk except in the country.
After being weaned, the child at Athens was fed by its mother or nurse with milk and a weak broth, which consisted mostly of honey. The older Athenian child no doubt had an abundance and a variety of food, but such was not the case in Sparta. Taken to the public tables at seven years of age, the Spartan child was given only very coarse food and not nearly a sufficient quantity of this. He was permitted, however, to steal more food, but if caught he was severely punished.