Myma ( or ) was an ancient Greek meat dish that incorporated animal blood.Andrew Dalby, Food in the Ancient World from A to Z Routledge 2003, p. 226 In his Deipnosophists (662d, or XIV,82), the 2nd century Greek rhetorician and grammarian Athenaeus quotes recipes from Artemidorus and Epaenetus, authors of cookery books who lived in the Hellenistic period.
Athenaeus indicatesː "such a food now is the myma, which I, my friends, am bringing you; concerning which Artemidorus, the pupil of Aristophanes, speaks in his Dictionary of Cookery, saying that it is prepared with meat and blood, wιth the addition also of a great deal of seasoning. And Epaenetus, in his treatise on Cookery, speaks as follows":The Deipnosophists, or, Banquet of the Learned of Athenaeus, vol. III; transl. C. D. Yonge, London 1854, p. 1058
A myma of any sacrificial animal, or chicken, is to be made by chopping the lean meat finely, mincing liver and offal with blood, and flavouring with vinegar, melted cheese, silphium, cumin, thyme leaf, thyme seed,Literally ″fresh and dried thyme″ () in the manuscript Roman hyssop,Satureja thymbra coriander leaf, coriander seed,Similarly, "fresh and dried coriander" () in the Greek original Welsh onion, peeled fried onion (or poppy seed), raisins (or honey) and the seeds of a sour pomegranate. You may also use it as a relish.Dalby 2003, IbidemAnother reading of the sentence ″You may also use it as a relish″ (), is: ″You may also make this myma of fish". (Yonge 1854; cf. Grant 1999)
A modern interpretation of Epaenetus's recipe is given by Mark Grant.Mark Grant, Roman Cookery. Ancient recipes for modern kitchens Serif 1999, pp. 128-129
See also Ancient Greek cuisine
Notes and references