Attila the Hun and Pepper

A New York Times article on the history of pepper says that part of the price Attila demanded to spare Rome was 3,000 pounds of pepper.
Following the Pepper Grinder All the Way to Its Source - New York Times
Ancient Food
More food related stuff...
Desserts and breads galore, from The Star Online, reviews a book on cheesecake, which makes the claim: "Early records describing cheesecake indicated that it was created on the ancient Greek island of Samos in the Aegean sea sometime around 800 B.C."