8/12/2019 Roman Food! Ancient Roman style

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Roman Food

The richAncient Romansenjoyed their food. Expensive food, along with a lavish villa, wasan obvious way of showing off your wealth to others. If you hosted a banuet at your villato which other Roman worthies had been invited, it had to go well if your social standing

was to be maintained ! hence why elaborate and expensive foods were well provided.Roast peacoc" and ostriches and the li"e, would be provided.

A different lifestyle also meant that the eating habits of the Ancient Romans were differentto ours today. #rea"fast $the Romans called this jentaculum% was ta"en in the master&sbedroom and usually consisted of a slice of bread or a wheat panca"e eaten with datesand honey. 'ine was also drun". (unch $the Romans called this prandium% was eaten atabout )).** a.m. and consisted of a light meal of bread, cheese and possibly some meat.In many senses, everything was geared up towards the main meal of the day ! cena. Thiswas eaten in the late afternoon or early evening. If the master of the house had no guests,cena might ta"e about one hour. If he did have guests, then this meal might ta"e as long

as four hours. A light supper was usually eaten just before the Romans went to bed,consisting of bread and fruit. The Romans were usually not big meat eaters and a lot oftheir normal meals involved vegetables, herbs and spices together with a wheat meal thatloo"ed li"e porridge.

+owever, for a rich man&s banuet anything exotic that could be purchased was served.any meals were served with sauces. The Romans seemed to be particularly fond ofsauces as it gave a coo" the opportunity to ma"e a dish seem a little bit more exciting thatit may have been without the sauce. -ne particular favourite was garum which was madeby mixing up fish waste with salt water and leaving it for several wee"s until it was readyfor use. #y all accounts, it was a salty and highly flavored sauce. auces made fromvinegar, honey, pepper, herbs and spices were also popular. The Romans seemed to bevery "een on sweet food and drin". -ne of the favoured drin"s was called mulsum whichwas a mixture of boiled wine and honey.

-ne sign that a meal or a banuet had gone down well was if guests as"ed for bags tota"e homes dishes that they had enjoyed. This in particular pleased a master as it showedto everyone who was there that at least some of the courses on offer had been wellreceived.

ost food was either boiled or fried in olive oil. /ery few homes needed an oven as so littlefood was roasted.

Two Roman meals were0

Baked dormice: "Stuff the dormice with minced pork or the meat of otherdormice chopped up with herbs, pepper and pine nuts. Sew up the

dormice and cook in a small oven."A sweet: "Take the crusts from a white loaf and break the bread intolargish pieces. Soak them in milk. Fr them in hot oil or fat. !our honeover them and serve."

The writer 1etronius wrote about his eating experiences in around A2 3*0

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8/12/2019 Roman Food! Ancient Roman style

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"After a generous rubdown with oil, we put on dinner clothes. e were takeninto the ne#t room where we found three couches drawn up and a table, verlu#uriousl laid out, awaiting us.

e were invited to take our seats. $mmediatel, %gptian slaves came in andpoured ice water over our hands. The starters were served. &n a large trastood a donke made of bron'e. &n its back were two baskets, one holdinggreen olives, and the other black. &n either side were dormice, dipped inhone and rolled in popp seed. nearb, on a silver grill, piping hot, la smallsausages. As for wine, we were fairl swimming in it."