Of soups and stews in the Mesopotamian culinary and administrative texts De sopas y guisos en los recetarios y en los textos administrativos de Mesopotamia

In this paper we discuss ingredients and types of cooking witnessed in the Mesopotamia from the end of the third millennium and the beginning of the second millennium BC. We consider as main sources culinary and administrative texts and we mainly focus on the stews and soups that were managed from the kitchens of temples and palaces, in order to approach the diet of the elites and also of other layers of the population. We will also pay special attention to the culinary texts, sources which have been widely analysed due to their richness and exceptional nature. First we review their publication history, and second we look at two recent studies of these culinary compendia to reflect on the purpose of these investigations and the position from which they are carried out.