As iron began to be used more and more for tilling the soil, crops were more and more abundant. This meant that the quality of life went up. The kind of person that ate nothing but bread and beer in the Bronze Age could now eat more kinds of food in the Iron Age, because he could afford it.
The cuisine varied from region to region, but here’s a good list for people living in the Mediterranean region:
Meat:
Mutton
Lamb
Goat
Beef
Pork
Duck
Goose
Chicken (late Iron Age)
Fish
Manatee/Dolphin
Various game animals
Various insects (such as locusts)
Produce:
Leeks
Onions/shallots
Scallions (green onions)
Melons
Apples
Pomegranates
Grapes and Raisins
Olives
Grains:
Bread (of course!)
Roasted and cracked grains
* Wheat (durum)
* Barley
* Spelt
* Flax
Spices/condiments:
Cumin
Salt
Parsley
Mint
Mustard
Sesame
Olive Oil
Butter
Sweets:
Sesame cakes with honey
Raisin cakes with honey
Honeycomb
Beverages:
Wine (barely alcoholic)
Mixed wine (more alcoholic)
Mustum (wine mixed with wild mustard, used by Roman soldiers as an energy drink)
Barley Beer
Honey Beer
Milk
Water
Once again, each region might have more or less than these. The Romans, for instance, had a wide variety of exotic dishes, such as those made of pigeon dung.
The poor continued to eat simply bread and beer (especially in Egypt). However, sometimes they were able to add milk to their diet, and some produce such as leeks and melons. The rich continued to have vastly more food than the poor, but now there was a far wider selection, due to the advancement in prosperity.

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