Greek Moussaka and the History of Eggplants

Moussaka (or musaka, or musakka) is “a meat and vegetable stew, originally made from sliced aubergine [eggplant], meat and tomatoes, and preferably cooked in an oven.” Moussaka is a flexible dish, versions of it are common across much of Europe (in Romania the vegetables may be potatoes, celery, cabbage or cauliflower, and in Bulgarian and Yugoslavia the dish includes eggs, cheese, potatoes, and spinach, or eggs, cheese, sauerkraut, and rice).

The stages of mousaka

For this post, I made Greek moussaka, a combination of eggplant, red meat sauce, potatoes/zucchini, and bechamel. Bechamel? The French sauce? Yes, that is it. Greek moussaka is an interesting mix of different cultures, influences, and styles. And yet, it has come to represent (to some) the epitome of Greek cooking.

The Greek dish was likely adopted in Greece from a similar Arabic dish. The first printed recipe for moussaka comes from the Turkish Cookery Book in 1862. By then, some of its staple ingredients, like tomatoes which were domesticated in the Americas, had made their way around the world. These early versions; however, did not include the bechamel (white) sauce, a staple of the dish today. Bechmenal was added after 1920 when Nikos Tselementes decided to ‘cleanse’ Greek cuisine from any Turkish influence. Bechamel, a french sauce, was his attempt to “Europeanize” the dish. Today, moussaka can be found at many Greek restaurants. In Greece, however, it is not an everyday dish but rather is prepared as a treat for guests and family on festive days.

What is the history of the eggplant?

The aubergine, aka the eggplant, (Solanum melongena) is a member of the giant genus Solanum within the nightshade family (Solanaceae). Other important crops in the family are potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, and tobacco. While the eggplant was domesticated in either South or Southeast Asia, the wild precursor comes from the savannahs of Africa. It gets the name eggplant from a popular European variety that produces small egg-shaped, white fruits.

The eggplant is an interesting fruit so I thought I would explore how archaeologists can reconstruct contact, interaction, and influence between cultures in the past via the eggplant.

Human innovation, cultural exchange, adoption of practices, and many other factors have shaped the numerous ways in which people apply selection pressures to crops, which may over time change their ability to be eaten, cultivated, or used in applications such as medicine. Knowledge of these potential selective forces can provide insight into key mechanisms and interactions that help explain how desirable plant traits evolved. Reciprocally, variations in crop or species use around the world reflect cultural influences throughout history, and can help guide research on the development of practices in a given area.” Meyer et al. 137
Meyer, Rachel S., et al. “Comparing medicinal uses of eggplant and related Solanaceae in China, India, and the Philippines suggests the independent development of uses, cultural diffusion, and recent species substitutions.” Economic botany 68.2 (2014): 137-152.

Eggplant is not going to preserve well in the archaeological record so archaeologists and anthropologists have to use other types of information to discern its history. One tried and true method-genomic sequencing. The results for eggplants? Chinese and Indian eggplant are genetically divergent, meaning they were domesticated from their wild ancestor separately. In fact, according to Meyer et al, these studies point to at least 3 different origin events.

Archaeologists can also use historical texts as a way to understand the past. Records tell us that by 2,000 years ago (perhaps even as early as the Neolithic) eggplants had found their way into cuisine and medicine in China and India.

Anthropologists and archaeologists can also use modern data, in this case, collected through interviews, to explore how something may have changed through time. A broad survey by Meyer et al. highlighted around 78 common preparations of the eggplant. Focusing on medicinal uses, common themes were avoidance during menstruation, the topical use of boiled leaves for hemorrhoids or to reduce swelling, ingestion of leaves to reduce fever, and as a pain reducer for toothaches.

Chinese eggplant drawing. From Hu Sihui, Yinshan Zhengyao, 1330 (Buell and Anderson, 2000).

While there were similarities, what the authors did not find was a clear direction of influence (what archaeologists call “diffusion“). If this had occurred, they would have expected to be able to trace points of contact through time. Rather, they conclude that there are clear regional differences in the attributes of wild and domesticated species and that those differences resulted in variable uses across cultures, despite broad-arching similarities. This reinforced their hypothesis that selection in the study region (the domestication and uses of eggplant) occurred without diffusion (Meyer et al, 2014). What does this mean? Similar uses are likely derived from people drawing on their knowledge of other plants, and what they can be used for, and then applying it to eggplants. Turns out [eople think similar ways, across space and time.

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