Photo from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kefir
When I was a kid, I was fascinated both by mummies and by the concept of people being buried with their possessions and things they would need for their journey into the Afterlife. I really got a kick out of this article yesterday, which discussed a recent discovery by Chinese and German researchers, of cheese (yes, cheese) in the graves of 4,000 year-old bodies preserved in the Tarim Basin found in Xinjiang, China.
The mummies are thought to be of herders from the Bronze Age. Amongst the items found with them was a cheese described as being “similar to kefir.” It’s the oldest cheese ever to be found—older than evidence that shows cheese-making was going on in Europe as early as 6th millennium BC. I can only imagine what sort of state this old cheese was in…What I’m really curious about is how they decided it was so like kefir.
If you’re interested, you can read more about this discovery on the Journal of Archaeological Science.
I like cheese, but I’m not sure it would be on my must-have list for the great cosmic after-party. Greek yogurt, maybe. Orbit gum, however, would be essential. I would also want to make sure I had plenty of champagne.
What were you fascinated by as a kid? What foods would be on your afterlife list?