๐˜€๐˜๐˜‚๐˜ƒ๐˜„๐˜…๐˜† ๐˜ฃ๐˜ค๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ง๐˜จ๐˜ฉ ๐šฏ๐šฐ๐šฑ๐šฒ๐šณ๐šด๐šต ๐œŸ๐œ ๐œก๐œข๐œฃ๐œค๐œฅ ๐šจ๐šฉ๐šช๐šซ๐šฌ๐šญ๐šฎ ๐›‹๐›Œ๐›๐›Ž๐›๐›๐›‘

Minoan Cuisine

Food, Love and the Minoans.

A Bronze Age cookbook wrapped in a love story. Or perhaps the other way around.

The book weaves together fictional stories set in Late Bronze Age Crete with over 80 historically plausible recipes, developed using evidence from excavated tools, trade routes, and botanical remains.

Ingredients They Had
  • Olive oil
  • Barley, emmer, einkorn
  • Figs, grapes, pomegranates
  • Wild greens, herbs, lentils, chickpeas
  • Goat cheese, yogurt, honey
  • Sesame, carob, wine, fish
Ingredients They Didnโ€™t
  • Tomatoes
  • Lemons, oranges
  • Sugar, chocolate, coffee
  • Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower
  • Chili peppers
  • Rice, corn, potatoes

Chapter 1 โ€” Early Spring in Festos

The Day After the Gala

โ€œItโ€™s you again,โ€ Ninila said, barely looking up as she saw Sabaleonโ€™s face appear in the doorway of her studio.

โ€œGood morning,โ€ he replied, holding a linen-wrapped parcel in his hands.

โ€œWhat do you want?โ€
Her voice was cold โ€” but it trembled ever so slightly.

โ€œI brought caltsounia,โ€ he said, stepping inside. โ€œAs I always do. This is a new recipe. I used all your favorite ingredients.โ€

โ€œIโ€™m not hungry,โ€ she said โ€” a lie.
She loved his food.
She loved how he cooked just for her, how he always tried to impress her, even when he pretended not to.

But she was furious with him โ€” though she couldnโ€™t quite explain it.
The previous day at Knossos had left a bitter taste in her mouth.
Heโ€™d hardly spoken to her.
All his attention had gone to Zachrea and her smug new spice blends.
The Spicy Princess, as Ninila now called her under her breath.

Knossos โ€” the capital, the heart of the island.
Its wide stone roads hummed with merchants and messengers, traders shouting prices in a dozen languages.
It was the city of kings, architects and traders, politics and promise, where the walls were covered in frescoes and every rooftop had a story.

Yesterday, it had hosted the grand Design and Trade Gala โ€” a dazzling affair of silks, spices, prototypes, and whispers.

And somewhere in all that glitter and noiseโ€ฆ Ninila had felt invisible.


Coming Soon

Minoan Cuisine is currently in development as a complete cookbook and narrative volume. It will feature over 80 recipes, richly illustrated scenes, and the full story of Ninila, Sabaleon, and the world they inhabit.

If you'd like to be notified when the book becomes available, check back here soon.