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Roman diet

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by SafricanAndy (U7173046) on Tuesday, 24th July 2007

  What did the average Roman eat every day? I assume it was different to the "mediterranean diet" of today, the tomato and potato being unknown to the ancient Roman world...and also different amongst the different classes: aristocrats, freedmen, slaves etc.?

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  Posted by Anglo-Norman (U1965016) on Wednesday, 25th July 2007

  I assume it was different to the "mediterranean diet" of today, the tomato and potato being unknown to the ancient Roman world...and also different amongst the different classes: aristocrats, freedmen, slaves etc.? Β 
  
  Yes, and yes; durum wheat wasn't introduced until the middle ages, so although they had pasta of a sort, it wasn't what we would recognise as Italian pasta (more like German noodles, I understand).
  
  Cooking was illegal in most tenemant blocks in Rome because of the fire hazard, so a lot of food consumed by the poor would have been either purchased ready made from one of the numerous fast food shops, or cooked in some sort of communal over - for example, their local bakery.
  
  Bread and olive oil were staples. Grain was also used for porrige and pancakes. A lot of fish was eaten where available. Vegetables and legumes - home grown or bought - including beans, lentils and cabbage were important. Wine was drunk by all, although of course the quality depended on what you could afford. Beer was drunk in the western provinces, notably Britain and Germany (so, what's new? ) The popinae (the above mentioned fast food outlets) sold ham, sausages and fried fish, amongst other things. Another inn, which was probably a bit more upmarket, announced "Huntsmen, we have for dinner chicken, fish, ham, peacock". Various cheeses, including garlic cheese.
  
  For the wealthy we have a much greater range of actual recipes, thanks to the writings of Apicius and others. Chicken was something of a luxury (because to the poor chickens were a source of eggs rather than a one-off meal). Fish included tuna (preferably from what is now Turkey), shark and British oysters. Gammon stewed in white wine and honey. Parthian Chicken (basically chicken cooked in red wine with various herbs and spices; I've made it myself, and it's very nice!). Shoulder of Pork with Sweet Wine Cakes. Pears, cheesecake, roast duck with hazelnuts...
  
  Garum or liquaman - fish sauce, made from fermented mackeral guts - was the principal ingrediant in a huge range of Roman dishes, sweet and savoury, and a lot more palatable than it sounds. Honey and vinegar also frequently appear. A vast range of herbs and spices was used. Silphium was the most popular spice for the wealthy (probably as much for its cost as for its flavour) - in fact it was so popular that during the reign of Nero it became extinct. Asafoetida - known to the Indians as hing - was used as a substitute (and still is by modern 'Roman' cooks).
  
  The famous Dormice were not as common as supposed, and the really exotic dishes - giraffe, flamingo - would only have been eaten on very special occasions by the excessively extravagent, and the majority of even the wealthly wouldn't usually have touched such things. Nevertheless, there was still a huge gap between what the rich and the poor ate. Generally household slaves and the poor probably wouldn't have had that much of a different diet; indeed the slaves might have had a better one, with the chance to eat up the leftovers from their master's banquents!

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  Posted by SafricanAndy (U7173046) on Monday, 30th July 2007

  Thank-you, Anglo-Norman...very informative.

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