Find out about the World’s Oldest Foods Discovered by Archaeologists

Archaeologists have made some fascinating discoveries over the years. Among the things they have dug up are some of the World’s Oldest Food, which has been preserved for centuries well past the expiration date. Here are some fascinating food discoveries made by archaeologists.

Noodles in China

A 4,000-year-old bowl of noodles was unearthed at the Lajia archaeological site on China's Yellow River in 2005. It is one of the earliest examples of the popular food to be found. An ancient earthquake is said to have flooded the Yellow River valley, which caused a diner to leave the bowl of noodles to escape. A unique combination of factors helped preserve the noodles.

Britain’s oldest bread in Oxfordshire

Many had different ideas about what a flooded hole in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom was. However, by the end of the 20th century, the hole had small pieces of charred bread, along with Neolithic items that were found floating in it. At first, the overcooked break was mistaken to be charcoal. It was only upon close inspection that an archaeologist discovered crushed grains of barley in it. Reports suggest the bread may be roughly 5500 years old. This suggests that the break could have been made by some of the very first people to migrate to Britain from Europe. The world’s oldest bread-like grain items are reportedly somewhere between 11,600 years ago to 14,600. That is almost 4000 years before humans began practising agriculture.

Very old chocolates

In the 16th century, Spanish explorers are said to have brought chocolate to Europe. A bar of chocolate made in 1902 was sold in a souvenir box commemorating the coronation of Edward VII. The lid also featured portraits of the British king and his wife, Alexandra. Currently, it is at the Annan Museum in Scotland.

Bog butter in Ireland

Back in the day in Ireland, almost 3000 years ago, there were many options when it came to story barrels of butter. Some of the ancient residents, archaeologists discovered, chose to store their butter in County Kildare peat bog. In 2009 archaeologists discovered "bog butter", which was in a wooden container that still had a lot of butter. Because this butter had been stored in the same location for quite some time, it lost that creamy texture. Instead, it turned into a fatty white substance known as adipocere.