Preservation
By the 5th Century BC, inhabitants of the Middle East and Europe, including Ancient Greece, had learned about the preservation of food by smoking, drying, salting and using olive oil. Kitchens were used for the slow cooking of stews in clay ovens buried in hot coals and for spit roasting meat. The food was then served to the banqueting aristocrats of the day (men only, as the women ate separately, particularly if there were guests). The general population, however, still had communal cooking areas in their towns and villages.