Western civilization, descended from the Greeks, has always been fascinated by the powerful and mysterious Egyptian culture and their seemingly strange behaviors. One of the things the Greeks were particularly interested in was the Egyptian diet. In fact, the Greek historian Herodotus spent an inordinate amount of time in his writings on Egypt tracing the exact dietary patterns of the ancient empire. So what did these people eat? What gave them the strength to build the pyramids, to spread out from the Nile, to forge one of the most influential empires the world has ever seen? The answers might surprise you.