In the Mediterranean region the fig is so widely used, both fresh and dried, that it is called “the poor man’s food.” The fruit contains significant amounts of calcium, potassium, phosphorus, and iron. The fig is indigenous from Asiatic Turkey to northern India, but natural seedlings grow in most Mediterranean countries; it is cultivated in warm climates.
The fig was one of the earliest fruit trees to be cultivated, and its spread in remote ages. The fig was one of the principal articles of sustenance among the Greeks; the Spartans especially used it at their public tables and as the food of slaves. In Latin myth the fig was held sacred to Bacchus and employed in religious ceremonies; the fig tree that overshadowed the twin founders of Rome in the wolf’s cave was an emblem of the future prosperity of the race. I love fig in the oven with goatcheese and nuts