A UC Davis food geographer and a computer technologist are creating maps to the best cheeses, wines, breads and assorted delicacies throughout the Mediterranean, but there's a catch.

These are maps based on the eight-volume "The Deipnosophists," written by Egyptian author Athenaeus 1,800 years ago. The book, according to ancient-food expert Louis Grivetti, is what might be considered the bonus edition of "Gourmet" magazine circa A.D. 200.

Grivetti discovered that the most sublime olive oil was produced in the southern Italian town of Thurii, the most superior milk goats were raised on the Greek island of Scyros and the cuisine on Chios, an Aegean island off the coast of Turkey, "was best known for its dainty dishes."

"Back then it was the guidebook to the known world, from Iberia to central Europe to India and North Africa," Grivetti says.

Grivetti is producing his own 21st-century book that draws from Athenaeus' recounting of a long, conversational feast. During each course, dinner guests were asked to pinpoint where the best of Mediterranean foods were being produced, using Roman and Greek citations.

"There were 1,500 ancient works cited by author and title, but fewer than 15 percent of those still exist," Grivetti says. "However, we've found that by looking at the existing sources, they were cited correctly, for the most part."

With the computer assistance of colleague Matthew Lange, Grivetti will document, among other foods, 500 to 600 ancient wines with appellations by district. He will also trace superior breads, cakes, fruits and vegetables to their classical bakeries and gardens.

The maps will show the tastiest water and most original breads in the shapes of animals came from the district of Attica, which included Athens, while Sicily boasted the choicest cheese and Cyprus the sweetest pomegranates.

Grivetti's book, due in 2005, will also allow for comparisons between ancient Mediterranean food patterns and today's Mediterranean diet, considered one of the healthiest in the world.