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Roman Cuisine
The images of emperors, aristocrats and paramours feasting in decadent banquet style are the enduring images most have of Roman cuisine. Rich "dainties", flowing purple robes and wines are surely very glamorous. But the story of ancient dining is a story that begins in the fields of Italy and from the sea. It reaches from the farthest corners of the Empire, to the stews of the Suburb and even down through the centuries to Colonial America.
Ones customs and diet mostly depended upon their geographical location and their standard of living in Ancient Rome. Most Romans ate lightly, sparingly on a diet based upon grains, oil and water, the more exotic foods gracing only the tables of the wealthy. For example a poet, Juvenal describes one meal at a dinner party, “OHT”. It is known that rich Romans would eat whole plates of peacock tongues. Today, such a meal would make our stomachs churn but in Rome this was considered a very unique meal, a delicacy perhaps. One complicated meal involved stuffing a chicken inside a duck, then the duck inside a goose, then the goose inside a pig, then the pig inside a cow, and cooking the whole thing together. Appalling or appetizing? You decide?
Cereal grains were the staple food. Next to the vegetables so important to the Romans, the foremost crop was frumentum, which was wheat, being one of the major sources of food, either baked into bread or boiled into a porridge. In addition to wheat and vegetables, strongly flavoured sauces, as well as spices and herbs were used generously by the Romans. Olives were another most important crop. The olives were eaten, but most importantly, their oil was used extensively in cooking and for other purposes such as fuel for lamps, perfume and body oils. Grapes were also extensively refined, their main fruit substance, and of course, the wine that nearly all Romans, wealthy or poor drank well watered down or mixed with honey at every meal. The remains of the grapes left after making wine was used as a preservative for foods. Meat was used sparingly by the majority of Romans. During the early Republic, it had been eaten only when an animal was sacrificed to the gods. Later, meat was used more often, a small amount added to the daily porridge, a chicken or a pig slaughtered on the farm to feed the family. From the time of Augustus, meat and fish, which was usually a very expensive item, became a daily item in the diets of most of the wealthy Romans. Many varieties of meat began to be consumed at dinner parties of the wealthy, such as peacock brains, bear, lion, and lark tongues. As Rome expanded her Empire, the variety of foods available to those who could afford them increased. As the population grew so did the demand for more and more grain. Much grain was imported from the provinces and territories, such as Egypt. Other imported foods included spices for Northern Africa, wild [next page]