Roman cuisine
Encyclopedia
Ancient Roman cuisine changed over the long duration of this ancient civilization
. Dietary habits
were affected by the influence of Greek
culture, the political changes from kingdom
to republic
to empire
, and empire's enormous expansion, which exposed Romans to many new, provincial culinary habits and cooking techniques. In the beginning the differences between social classes were not very great, but disparities developed with the empire's growth.
called the ientaculum, was served at dawn, at around 11am Romans ate a small lunch, and in the evening, they consumed the cena, the main meal of the day. Due to the influence of the Greeks and the increased importation and consumption of foreign foods, the cena increased in size and diversity and was consumed in the afternoon. The vesperna, a light supper in the evening, was abandoned, and a second breakfast was introduced around noon, the prandium.
In the lower strata of society, the old routine was preserved, because it corresponded more closely to the daily rhythms of manual labor.
Originally flat, round loaves made of emmer
(a cereal
grain closely related to wheat) with a bit of salt
were eaten; among the upper classes, eggs
, cheese
, and honey
, along with milk
and fruit
were also consumed. In the Imperial period, around the beginning of the Christian
era, bread made of wheat
was introduced; with time, more and more wheaten foods began to replace emmer bread. The bread was sometimes dipped in wine
and eaten with olives, cheese, crackers, and grapes. They also ate wild boar, beef, sausages, pork, lamb, duck, goose, chickens, small birds, fish, and shellfish.
. Around 2:00 pm. , the cena would begin. This meal could last until late in the night, especially if guests were invited, and would often be followed by a comissatio (a round of drinks).
In the period of the kings and the early republic
, but also in later periods (for the working classes), the cena essentially consisted of a kind of porridge, the puls. The simplest kind would be made from emmer, water, salt and fat. The more sophisticated kind was made with olive oil
, with an accompaniment of assorted vegetable
s when available. The richer classes ate their puls with eggs, cheese, and honey and (only occasionally) with meat
or fish
.
Over the course of the Republican period, the cena developed into 2 courses: a main course and a dessert with fruit and seafood (e.g. molluscs, shrimp
). By the end of the Republic, it was usual for the meal to be served in 3 parts: 1st course (gustatio), main course (primae mensae), and dessert (secundae mensae).
, Greek customs started to influence the culture of higher class Romans. Growing wealth led to ever larger and more sophisticated meals. Nutritional value was not regarded as important: on the contrary, the gourmet
s preferred food with low food energy
and nutrients. Easily digestible foods and diuretic
stimulants were highly regarded.
The dinner was consumed in a special dining room, which later was to be called triclinium
. Here one would lie down on a specially designed couch, the lectus triclinaris. Around the round table, the mensa, three of these lecti were arranged in the shape of a horseshoe, so that slaves could easily serve, and a maximum of three diners would recline at each lectus. During the kingdom and early republic, the only people allowed a place on a lectus were men. By the late republic and imperial times, and especially among the aristocracy, women were permitted to recline during meals. Traditionally, women would dine sitting upright across from their husbands or fathers in chairs. More tables for the beverages stood beside the couches. All heads were oriented towards the central table, with left elbows propped on a cushion and feet at the outside of the dinnercouch. In this fashion at most nine people could dine together at one table. Further guests had to sit on chairs. Slaves normally stood.
Feet and hands were washed before the cena. The food would be taken with the fingertips and two kinds of spoons, the larger ligula and the smaller cochlear with a needle-thin grip, which was used as a prong when eating snail
s and molluscs, in practice substituting for the modern fork
. At the table, larger pieces would be cut up to be served on smaller plates. After each course the fingers were washed again and napkins (mappae) were customary to wipe one's mouth. Guests could also bring their own mappae to take home the leftovers from the meal or small gifts (the apophoreta). Everything that could not be eaten (e.g. bones and shells) was thrown onto the floor, from where it was swept away by a slave.
In summer, it was popular to eat outside. Many houses in Pompeii
had stone couches at a particularly beautiful spot in the garden for just that purpose. People lay down to eat only on formal occasions. If the meal was routine, they ate while seated or even standing.
, the spirits of the house. This offering normally consisted of meat, cake and wine. The cake was usually colored with saffron
.
The usual salad and vegetable plants were:
GUSTATIO (which means starter)
Often, an intermediate dish was served before the real caput cenae which was the dinner. The decoration of this dish could be more important than the actual ingredients.
The main dish usually consisted of meat. The most common dishes were:
Pork
was the most usually eaten and best liked meat. All parts of the pig were eaten, and more unusual parts like the breasts and uteruses of young sows were considered specialties. Pigs' ears were also a delicacy.
Beef
was not very popular. Cattle were working animals, used for such tasks as ploughing or pulling carts, so their meat was usually very tough and had to be cooked for a long time to make it edible. Even calf meat was unpopular, with only a few recipes for it being known.
Geese were bred and sometimes fattened. The technique of force-feeding was already known, and the liver of force-fed geese
was a special delicacy, as it is today.
Chicken was more expensive than duck
. Other birds like Pavonem- (Peacock) and swan
s were eaten on special occasions. Capon
s and poulards (spayed hens) were considered specialties. In 161 BCE the consul C. Fannius prohibited the consumption of poulards, though the ban was ignored.
Sausages, farcimen, were made of beef and pork according to an astonishing diversity of recipes and types. Particularly widespread was the botulus, a blood sausage somewhat like black pudding, and which was sold on the streets. The most popular type of sausage was the lucanica
, a short, fat, rustic pork sausage, the recipe for which is still used today.
For special effects, whole pigs were stuffed with sausages and fruit, roasted and then served on their feet. When cut, the sausages would spill from the animal like entrails. Such a pig was called a porcus Troianus ("Trojan
pig"), a humorous reference to the Trojan Horse
.
Hare
s and rabbit
s were bred, the former with little success, making them as much as four times more expensive than rabbits. Hares therefore were regarded as a luxury; shoulder of hare was especially favoured. Newborn rabbits or rabbit fetuses, known as laurices
, were considered a delicacy.
Fish
was served only in earlier periods, and it remained more expensive than simpler meat types. Breeding was attempted in freshwater and saltwater ponds, but some kinds of fish could not be fattened in captivity. Among these was the most popular, mullus, the goatfish
. At a certain time this fish was considered the epitome of luxury, above all because its scales exhibit a bright red color when it dies out of water. For this reason these fish were occasionally allowed to die slowly at the table. There even was a recipe where this would take place in garo, in the sauce
. At the beginning of the Imperial era, however, this custom suddenly came to an end, which is why mullus in the feast of Trimalchio
(see the Satyricon
) could be shown as a characteristic of the parvenu
, who bores his guests with an unfashionable display of dying fish.
There were no side dishes or accompaniments in today's sense, although bread
was consumed by all classes following the introduction of wheat. Thereafter only the poorest, with no access to an oven, had to continue eating puls. Bread, which existed in a large number of different varieties, quickly became exceptionally popular and public bakeries were established in Rome from 270 AD.
Garum
, also known as liquamen, was the universal sauce added to everything. It was prepared by subjecting salted fish, in particular mackerel
intestines, to a very slow thermal process. Over the course of two to three months, in an enzymatic process stimulated by heating, usually by exposure to the sun, the protein-laden fish parts decomposed almost entirely. The resulting mass was then filtered and the liquid traded as garum, the remaining solids as alec - a kind of savoury spread. Because of the smell it produced, the production of garum within the city was banned. Garum, supplied in small sealed amphora
e, was used throughout the Empire and totally replaced salt
as a condiment. Today similar sauces are produced in Southeast Asia
, usually sold abroad under the description "fish sauce
", or nam pla.
Spice
s, especially pepper
, but hundreds of other kinds too, were imported on a large scale and used copiously. One very popular spice was silphium
; however, as it could not be cultivated it finally became extinct through overcropping of the wild plant. The inherent flavours of vegetables and meat were completely masked by the heavy use of garum and other seasonings. It was considered an indication of the highest achievement in culinary art if a gourmet could tell neither by sight, nor smell, nor taste what the ingredients of a dish were.
Among fruits, grape
s were the most preferred. The Romans distinguished between grapes for wine-making and grapes as food. Raisin
s were also produced. After grapes, fig
s and dates played a major part and pomegranate
s were eaten in many varieties. Quince
s, figs, dates, grapes, pomegranates, various types of apple
s, apricot
s, peaches, cherries, pears, plums, currant
s, strawberries, blackberries, medlars, elderberries
, mulberries
, azarole
s, citron
, raspberries, and melons were grown. Lemons were known from the 1st century AD, but not cultivated extensively. The Romans ate walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, chestnuts and pine nuts. Roman bakers were famous for the many varieties of breads, rolls, fruit tarts, sweet buns and cakes.
Cold clams and oyster
s (bred on a large scale), which were originally dessert dishes, later became starters.
Cakes, made of wheat and usually soaked in honey, played a big part. Certain kinds of nut
s were also available, and they were thrown at festivals much as sweets are today.
Wine was normally mixed with water immediately before drinking, since the fermentation was not controlled and the alcohol grade
was high. Wine was sometimes adjusted and "improved" by its makers: instructions survive for making white wine from red and vice versa, as well as for rescuing wine that is turning to vinegar. Wine was also variously flavored. For example, there was passum
, a strong and sweet raisin wine, for which the earliest known recipe is of Carthaginian
origin; mulsum
, a freshly made mixture of wine and honey; and conditum, a mixture of wine, honey and spices made in advance and matured. One specific recipe, Conditum Paradoxum
, is for a mixture of wine, honey, pepper
, laurel
, dates, mastic
, and saffron
, cooked and stored for later use. Another recipe called for the addition of seawater, pitch
and rosin
to the wine. A Greek traveler reported that the beverage was apparently an acquired taste. Beer (cervesa) was known but considered vulgar. Sour wine mixed with water and herbs (posca
) was a popular drink for the lower classes and a staple part of the Roman soldier's ration.
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
. Dietary habits
Habit (psychology)
Habits are routines of behavior that are repeated regularly and tend to occur subconsciously. Habitual behavior often goes unnoticed in persons exhibiting it, because a person does not need to engage in self-analysis when undertaking routine tasks...
were affected by the influence of Greek
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
culture, the political changes from kingdom
Monarchy
A monarchy is a form of government in which the office of head of state is usually held until death or abdication and is often hereditary and includes a royal house. In some cases, the monarch is elected...
to republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
to empire
Empire
The term empire derives from the Latin imperium . Politically, an empire is a geographically extensive group of states and peoples united and ruled either by a monarch or an oligarchy....
, and empire's enormous expansion, which exposed Romans to many new, provincial culinary habits and cooking techniques. In the beginning the differences between social classes were not very great, but disparities developed with the empire's growth.
Meals
Traditionally in the morning, a breakfastBreakfast
Breakfast is the first meal taken after rising from a night's sleep, most often eaten in the early morning before undertaking the day's work...
called the ientaculum, was served at dawn, at around 11am Romans ate a small lunch, and in the evening, they consumed the cena, the main meal of the day. Due to the influence of the Greeks and the increased importation and consumption of foreign foods, the cena increased in size and diversity and was consumed in the afternoon. The vesperna, a light supper in the evening, was abandoned, and a second breakfast was introduced around noon, the prandium.
In the lower strata of society, the old routine was preserved, because it corresponded more closely to the daily rhythms of manual labor.
Originally flat, round loaves made of emmer
Emmer
Emmer wheat , also known as farro especially in Italy, is a low yielding, awned wheat. It was one of the first crops domesticated in the Near East...
(a cereal
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...
grain closely related to wheat) with a bit of salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
were eaten; among the upper classes, eggs
Egg (food)
Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...
, cheese
Cheese
Cheese is a generic term for a diverse group of milk-based food products. Cheese is produced throughout the world in wide-ranging flavors, textures, and forms....
, and honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
, along with milk
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...
and fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
were also consumed. In the Imperial period, around the beginning of the Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
era, bread made of wheat
Wheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
was introduced; with time, more and more wheaten foods began to replace emmer bread. The bread was sometimes dipped in wine
Wine
Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...
and eaten with olives, cheese, crackers, and grapes. They also ate wild boar, beef, sausages, pork, lamb, duck, goose, chickens, small birds, fish, and shellfish.
Cena
Among the members of the upper classes, who did not engage in manual labor, it became customary to schedule all business obligations in the morning. After the prandium, the last responsibilities would be discharged, and a visit would be made to the bathsThermae
In ancient Rome, thermae and balnea were facilities for bathing...
. Around 2:00 pm. , the cena would begin. This meal could last until late in the night, especially if guests were invited, and would often be followed by a comissatio (a round of drinks).
In the period of the kings and the early republic
Roman Republic
The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...
, but also in later periods (for the working classes), the cena essentially consisted of a kind of porridge, the puls. The simplest kind would be made from emmer, water, salt and fat. The more sophisticated kind was made with olive oil
Olive oil
Olive oil is an oil obtained from the olive , a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin. It is commonly used in cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and soaps and as a fuel for traditional oil lamps...
, with an accompaniment of assorted vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s when available. The richer classes ate their puls with eggs, cheese, and honey and (only occasionally) with meat
Meat
Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...
or fish
Fish (food)
Fish is a food consumed by many species, including humans. The word "fish" refers to both the animal and to the food prepared from it. Fish has been an important source of protein for humans throughout recorded history.-Terminology:...
.
Over the course of the Republican period, the cena developed into 2 courses: a main course and a dessert with fruit and seafood (e.g. molluscs, shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...
). By the end of the Republic, it was usual for the meal to be served in 3 parts: 1st course (gustatio), main course (primae mensae), and dessert (secundae mensae).
Table culture
From 301 BC301 BC
Year 301 BC was a year of the pre-Julian Roman calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Dictatorship of Corvus...
, Greek customs started to influence the culture of higher class Romans. Growing wealth led to ever larger and more sophisticated meals. Nutritional value was not regarded as important: on the contrary, the gourmet
Gourmet
Gourmet is a cultural ideal associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterised by elaborate preparations and presentations of large meals of small, often quite rich courses...
s preferred food with low food energy
Food energy
Food energy is the amount of energy obtained from food that is available through cellular respiration.Food energy is expressed in food calories or kilojoules...
and nutrients. Easily digestible foods and diuretic
Diuretic
A diuretic provides a means of forced diuresis which elevates the rate of urination. There are several categories of diuretics. All diuretics increase the excretion of water from bodies, although each class does so in a distinct way.- Medical uses :...
stimulants were highly regarded.
The dinner was consumed in a special dining room, which later was to be called triclinium
Triclinium
A triclinium is a formal dining room in a Roman building. The word is adopted from the Greek τρικλίνιον, triklinion, from τρι-, tri-, "three", and κλίνη, klinē, a sort of "couch" or rather chaise longue...
. Here one would lie down on a specially designed couch, the lectus triclinaris. Around the round table, the mensa, three of these lecti were arranged in the shape of a horseshoe, so that slaves could easily serve, and a maximum of three diners would recline at each lectus. During the kingdom and early republic, the only people allowed a place on a lectus were men. By the late republic and imperial times, and especially among the aristocracy, women were permitted to recline during meals. Traditionally, women would dine sitting upright across from their husbands or fathers in chairs. More tables for the beverages stood beside the couches. All heads were oriented towards the central table, with left elbows propped on a cushion and feet at the outside of the dinnercouch. In this fashion at most nine people could dine together at one table. Further guests had to sit on chairs. Slaves normally stood.
Feet and hands were washed before the cena. The food would be taken with the fingertips and two kinds of spoons, the larger ligula and the smaller cochlear with a needle-thin grip, which was used as a prong when eating snail
Snail
Snail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
s and molluscs, in practice substituting for the modern fork
Fork
As a piece of cutlery or kitchenware, a fork is a tool consisting of a handle with several narrow tines on one end. The fork, as an eating utensil, has been a feature primarily of the West, whereas in East Asia chopsticks have been more prevalent...
. At the table, larger pieces would be cut up to be served on smaller plates. After each course the fingers were washed again and napkins (mappae) were customary to wipe one's mouth. Guests could also bring their own mappae to take home the leftovers from the meal or small gifts (the apophoreta). Everything that could not be eaten (e.g. bones and shells) was thrown onto the floor, from where it was swept away by a slave.
In summer, it was popular to eat outside. Many houses in Pompeii
Pompeii
The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...
had stone couches at a particularly beautiful spot in the garden for just that purpose. People lay down to eat only on formal occasions. If the meal was routine, they ate while seated or even standing.
Entertainment
During a dinner for guests, musicians, acrobats, poets or dancers would perform and dinner conversation played an important role. Dances were not usual, as it was considered improper and would not mix well with table manners, although during the comissatio this habit was often disregarded. To leave the table for bodily functions was considered inappropriate and restraining oneself was considered good manners. After the main course, during a pause, an offering was made to the LaresLares
Lares , archaically Lases, were guardian deities in ancient Roman religion. Their origin is uncertain; they may have been guardians of the hearth, fields, boundaries or fruitfulness, hero-ancestors, or an amalgam of these....
, the spirits of the house. This offering normally consisted of meat, cake and wine. The cake was usually colored with saffron
Saffron
Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Each saffron crocus grows to and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are each the distal end of a carpel...
.
The starter
This part of the meal was called gustatio or promulsis. It generally consisted of light, appetizing dishes. The usual drink was mulsum (a mixture of wine and honey). At large feasts several starter dishes were served one after another.The usual salad and vegetable plants were:
- Pulses such as fava beanVicia fabaThis article refers to the Broad Bean plant. For Broadbean the company, see Broadbean, Inc.Vicia faba, the Broad Bean, Fava Bean, Field Bean, Bell Bean or Tic Bean, is a species of bean native to north Africa and southwest Asia, and extensively cultivated elsewhere. A variety is provisionally...
s, chick peas, peaPeaA pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking...
s and lupinLupini BeansLupin or Lupini Beans are yellow legume seeds of the lupinus genus plant, most commonly the Lupinus luteus or Yellow Lupin, and were once a common food of the Mediterranean basin and Latin America...
s, although these were only appreciated by peasants, smiths, legionariesLegionaryThe Roman legionary was a professional soldier of the Roman army after the Marian reforms of 107 BC. Legionaries had to be Roman citizens under the age of 45. They enlisted in a legion for twenty-five years of service, a change from the early practice of enlisting only for a campaign...
and gladiatorGladiatorA gladiator was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their legal and social standing and their lives by appearing in the...
s; only lentilLentilThe lentil is an edible pulse. It is a bushy annual plant of the legume family, grown for its lens-shaped seeds...
s imported from EgyptEgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
were liked by the upper classUpper classIn social science, the "upper class" is the group of people at the top of a social hierarchy. Members of an upper class may have great power over the allocation of resources and governmental policy in their area.- Historical meaning :...
. - Several kinds of vegetableVegetableThe noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s were usually enjoyed with vinegarVinegarVinegar is a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. Slow methods generally are used with traditional...
, kaleKaleKale is very high in beta carotene, vitamin K, vitamin C, lutein, zeaxanthin, and reasonably rich in calcium. Kale, as with broccoli and other brassicas, contains sulforaphane , a chemical with potent anti-cancer properties. Boiling decreases the level of sulforaphane; however, steaming,...
was cooked in saltSaltIn chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
and both the green and the white parts of chardChardChard , is a leafy green vegetable often used in Mediterranean cooking. While the leaves are always green, chard stalks vary in color. Chard has been bred to have highly nutrious leaves at the expense of the root...
were used. - The leaves of many shrubs and weeds were cooked to a mush and strongly spiced; examples are elderElderberrySambucus is a genus of between 5 and 30 species of shrubs or small trees in the moschatel family, Adoxaceae. It was formerly placed in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, but was reclassified due to genetic evidence...
, mallowMalvaMalva is a genus of about 25–30 species of herbaceous annual, biennial, and perennial plants in the family Malvaceae , one of several closely related genera in the family to bear the common English name mallow. The genus is widespread throughout the temperate, subtropical and tropical regions of...
, orache, fenugreekFenugreekFenugreek is a plant in the family Fabaceae. Fenugreek is used both as a herb and as a spice . The leaves and sprouts are also eaten as vegetables...
, nettleNettleNettles constitute between 24 and 39 species of flowering plants of the genus Urtica in the family Urticaceae, with a cosmopolitan though mainly temperate distribution. They are mostly herbaceous perennial plants, but some are annual and a few are shrubby...
s and sorrelSorrelCommon sorrel or garden sorrel , often simply called sorrel, is a perennial herb that is cultivated as a garden herb or leaf vegetable...
. - Pickled fruit and vegetables such as escarole, oliveOliveThe olive , Olea europaea), is a species of a small tree in the family Oleaceae, native to the coastal areas of the eastern Mediterranean Basin as well as northern Iran at the south end of the Caspian Sea.Its fruit, also called the olive, is of major agricultural importance in the...
s, chicoryChicoryCommon chicory, Cichorium intybus, is a somewhat woody, perennial herbaceous plant usually with bright blue flowers, rarely white or pink. Various varieties are cultivated for salad leaves, chicons , or for roots , which are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and additive. It is also...
, chard, cardoonCardoonThe cardoon , also called the artichoke thistle, cardone, cardoni, carduni or cardi, is a thistle-like plant in the aster family Asteraceae. It is the naturally occurring form of the same species as the globe artichoke, and has many cultivated varieties...
s, mallows, broccoliBroccoliBroccoli is a plant in the cabbage family, whose large flower head is used as a vegetable.-General:The word broccoli, from the Italian plural of , refers to "the flowering top of a cabbage"....
, asparagusAsparagusAsparagus officinalis is a spring vegetable, a flowering perennialplant species in the genus Asparagus. It was once classified in the lily family, like its Allium cousins, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Amaryllidaceae and...
, artichokeArtichoke-Plants:* Globe artichoke, a partially edible perennial thistle originating in southern Europe around the Mediterranean* Jerusalem artichoke, a species of sunflower with an edible tuber...
s, leeks, carrotCarrotThe carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...
s, turnipTurnipThe turnip or white turnip is a root vegetable commonly grown in temperate climates worldwide for its white, bulbous taproot. Small, tender varieties are grown for human consumption, while larger varieties are grown as feed for livestock...
s, parsnipParsnipThe parsnip is a root vegetable related to the carrot. Parsnips resemble carrots, but are paler than most carrots and have a sweeter taste, especially when cooked. The buttery, slightly spicy, sweet flavor of cooked mature parsnips is reminiscent of butterscotch, honey, and subtle cardamom...
s, beetBeetThe beet is a plant in the Chenopodiaceae family which is now included in Amaranthaceae family. It is best known in its numerous cultivated varieties, the most well known of which is the purple root vegetable known as the beetroot or garden beet...
s, peaPeaA pea is most commonly the small spherical seed or the seed-pod of the pod fruit Pisum sativum. Each pod contains several peas. Peapods are botanically a fruit, since they contain seeds developed from the ovary of a flower. However, peas are considered to be a vegetable in cooking...
s, green beanGreen beanGreen beans , also known as French beans , are the unripe fruit of any kind of bean, including the yardlong bean, the hyacinth bean, the winged bean, and especially the common bean , whose pods are also usually called string beans in the northeastern and western United States, but can also be...
s, radishRadishThe radish is an edible root vegetable of the Brassicaceae family that was domesticated in Europe, in pre-Roman times. They are grown and consumed throughout the world. Radishes have numerous varieties, varying in size, color and duration of required cultivation time...
es, cauliflowerCauliflowerCauliflower is one of several vegetables in the species Brassica oleracea, in the family Brassicaceae. It is an annual plant that reproduces by seed...
, cabbage, lettuceLettuceLettuce is a temperate annual or biennial plant of the daisy family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable. It is eaten either raw, notably in salads, sandwiches, hamburgers, tacos, and many other dishes, or cooked, as in Chinese cuisine in which the stem becomes just as important...
s and field greens, onionOnionThe onion , also known as the bulb onion, common onion and garden onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. The genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion The onion...
s, cucumberCucumberThe cucumber is a widely cultivated plant in the gourd family Cucurbitaceae, which includes squash, and in the same genus as the muskmelon. The plant is a creeping vine which bears cylindrical edible fruit when ripe. There are three main varieties of cucumber: "slicing", "pickling", and...
s, fennelFennelFennel is a plant species in the genus Foeniculum . It is a member of the family Apiaceae . It is a hardy, perennial, umbelliferous herb, with yellow flowers and feathery leaves...
, caperCaperCapparis spinosa, the caper bush, is a perennial winter-deciduous species that bears rounded, fleshy leaves and large white to pinkish-white flowers. A caper is also the pickled bud of this plant...
s and cressCress-Plants:* Alpine Rock Cress* Bulbous Cress* Cedar Glade Cress* Garden cress, a leafy vegetable* Hoary Bitter Cress* Hoary Cress* Indian Cress* Land cress, a biennial herb* Marsh Cress* Peppercress, a mustard* Rockcress, several brassicales...
were called acetaria and were thought to be appetising. SpinachSpinachSpinach is an edible flowering plant in the family of Amaranthaceae. It is native to central and southwestern Asia. It is an annual plant , which grows to a height of up to 30 cm. Spinach may survive over winter in temperate regions...
and eggplant were not known until the 9th century. Tomatoes were not available.
- MushroomMushroomA mushroom is the fleshy, spore-bearing fruiting body of a fungus, typically produced above ground on soil or on its food source. The standard for the name "mushroom" is the cultivated white button mushroom, Agaricus bisporus; hence the word "mushroom" is most often applied to those fungi that...
s, such as boletusBoletusBoletus is a genus of mushroom, comprising over 100 species. The genus Boletus was originally broadly defined and described by Elias Magnus Fries in 1821, essentially containing all fungi with pores...
, field mushroom and truffles. - Stewed and salted snailSnailSnail is a common name applied to most of the members of the molluscan class Gastropoda that have coiled shells in the adult stage. When the word is used in its most general sense, it includes sea snails, land snails and freshwater snails. The word snail without any qualifier is however more often...
s, raw or cooked clamClamThe word "clam" can be applied to freshwater mussels, and other freshwater bivalves, as well as marine bivalves.In the United States, "clam" can be used in several different ways: one, as a general term covering all bivalve molluscs...
s, sea urchinSea urchinSea urchins or urchins are small, spiny, globular animals which, with their close kin, such as sand dollars, constitute the class Echinoidea of the echinoderm phylum. They inhabit all oceans. Their shell, or "test", is round and spiny, typically from across. Common colors include black and dull...
s and small fish. - After the Republican period, light meat dishes were also served as starters. One example is dormiceEdible dormouseThe edible dormouse or fat dormouse is a large dormouse and the only living species in the genus Glis.-Description:...
, which were bred in special enclosures before being fattened-up in clay pots called gliraria. Small birds like thrushesThrush (bird)The thrushes, family Turdidae, are a group of passerine birds that occur worldwide.-Characteristics:Thrushes are plump, soft-plumaged, small to medium-sized birds, inhabiting wooded areas, and often feed on the ground or eat small fruit. The smallest thrush may be the Forest Rock-thrush, at and...
were also served.
GUSTATIO (which means starter)
Often, an intermediate dish was served before the real caput cenae which was the dinner. The decoration of this dish could be more important than the actual ingredients.
The main dish usually consisted of meat. The most common dishes were:
Pork
Pork
Pork is the culinary name for meat from the domestic pig , which is eaten in many countries. It is one of the most commonly consumed meats worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BC....
was the most usually eaten and best liked meat. All parts of the pig were eaten, and more unusual parts like the breasts and uteruses of young sows were considered specialties. Pigs' ears were also a delicacy.
Beef
Beef
Beef is the culinary name for meat from bovines, especially domestic cattle. Beef can be harvested from cows, bulls, heifers or steers. It is one of the principal meats used in the cuisine of the Middle East , Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Europe and the United States, and is also important in...
was not very popular. Cattle were working animals, used for such tasks as ploughing or pulling carts, so their meat was usually very tough and had to be cooked for a long time to make it edible. Even calf meat was unpopular, with only a few recipes for it being known.
Geese were bred and sometimes fattened. The technique of force-feeding was already known, and the liver of force-fed geese
Foie gras
Foie gras ; French for "fat liver") is a food product made of the liver of a duck or goose that has been specially fattened. This fattening is typically achieved through gavage corn, according to French law, though outside of France it is occasionally produced using natural feeding...
was a special delicacy, as it is today.
Chicken was more expensive than duck
Duck (food)
Duck refers to the meat of several species of bird in the Anatidae family, found in both fresh and salt water. Duck is eaten in many cuisines around the world.-Types of ducks:The most common duck meat consumed in the United States is the Pekin duck...
. Other birds like Pavonem- (Peacock) and swan
Swan
Swans, genus Cygnus, are birds of the family Anatidae, which also includes geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Sometimes, they are considered a distinct subfamily, Cygninae...
s were eaten on special occasions. Capon
Capon
A capon is a rooster that has been castrated to improve the quality of its flesh for food.-History:The Romans are credited with inventing the capon. The Lex Faunia of 162 BC forbade fattening hens in order to conserve grain rations. In order to get around this the Romans castrated roosters, which...
s and poulards (spayed hens) were considered specialties. In 161 BCE the consul C. Fannius prohibited the consumption of poulards, though the ban was ignored.
Sausages, farcimen, were made of beef and pork according to an astonishing diversity of recipes and types. Particularly widespread was the botulus, a blood sausage somewhat like black pudding, and which was sold on the streets. The most popular type of sausage was the lucanica
Lucanica
Lucanica was a short, fat, rustic pork sausage in Ancient Roman cuisine.Apicius documents it as a spicy, smoked beef or pork sausage originally from Lucania; according to Cicero and Martial, it was brought by Roman troops or slaves from Lucania....
, a short, fat, rustic pork sausage, the recipe for which is still used today.
For special effects, whole pigs were stuffed with sausages and fruit, roasted and then served on their feet. When cut, the sausages would spill from the animal like entrails. Such a pig was called a porcus Troianus ("Trojan
Troy
Troy was a city, both factual and legendary, located in northwest Anatolia in what is now Turkey, southeast of the Dardanelles and beside Mount Ida...
pig"), a humorous reference to the Trojan Horse
Trojan Horse
The Trojan Horse is a tale from the Trojan War about the stratagem that allowed the Greeks finally to enter the city of Troy and end the conflict. In the canonical version, after a fruitless 10-year siege, the Greeks constructed a huge wooden horse, and hid a select force of men inside...
.
Hare
Hare
Hares and jackrabbits are leporids belonging to the genus Lepus. Hares less than one year old are called leverets. Four species commonly known as types of hare are classified outside of Lepus: the hispid hare , and three species known as red rock hares .Hares are very fast-moving...
s and rabbit
Rabbit
Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
s were bred, the former with little success, making them as much as four times more expensive than rabbits. Hares therefore were regarded as a luxury; shoulder of hare was especially favoured. Newborn rabbits or rabbit fetuses, known as laurices
Laurices
The term laurices refers to the fetus of the rabbit prepared without evisceration and consumed as a table delicacy. The word is the plural of the Latin word laurex , assumed to have been borrowed from an Iberian source...
, were considered a delicacy.
Fish
Fish (food)
Fish is a food consumed by many species, including humans. The word "fish" refers to both the animal and to the food prepared from it. Fish has been an important source of protein for humans throughout recorded history.-Terminology:...
was served only in earlier periods, and it remained more expensive than simpler meat types. Breeding was attempted in freshwater and saltwater ponds, but some kinds of fish could not be fattened in captivity. Among these was the most popular, mullus, the goatfish
Goatfish
Goatfishes are tropical marine perciform fish of the family Mullidae. Seldom found in brackish waters, goatfish are most associated with the reefs of the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific Oceans...
. At a certain time this fish was considered the epitome of luxury, above all because its scales exhibit a bright red color when it dies out of water. For this reason these fish were occasionally allowed to die slowly at the table. There even was a recipe where this would take place in garo, in the sauce
Garum
Garum, similar to liquamen, was a type of fermented fish sauce condiment that was an essential flavour in Ancient Roman cooking, the supreme condiment....
. At the beginning of the Imperial era, however, this custom suddenly came to an end, which is why mullus in the feast of Trimalchio
Trimalchio
Trimalchio is a character in the Roman novel The Satyricon by Petronius. He plays a part only in the section titled Cena Trimalchionis . Trimalchio is a freedman who through hard work and perseverance has attained power and wealth...
(see the Satyricon
Satyricon
Satyricon is a Latin work of fiction in a mixture of prose and poetry. It is believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius, though the manuscript tradition identifies the author as a certain Titus Petronius...
) could be shown as a characteristic of the parvenu
Parvenu
A Parvenu is a person who is a relative newcomer to a socioeconomic class. The word is borrowed from the French language; it is the past participle of the verb parvenir...
, who bores his guests with an unfashionable display of dying fish.
There were no side dishes or accompaniments in today's sense, although bread
Bread
Bread is a staple food prepared by cooking a dough of flour and water and often additional ingredients. Doughs are usually baked, but in some cuisines breads are steamed , fried , or baked on an unoiled frying pan . It may be leavened or unleavened...
was consumed by all classes following the introduction of wheat. Thereafter only the poorest, with no access to an oven, had to continue eating puls. Bread, which existed in a large number of different varieties, quickly became exceptionally popular and public bakeries were established in Rome from 270 AD.
Garum
Garum
Garum, similar to liquamen, was a type of fermented fish sauce condiment that was an essential flavour in Ancient Roman cooking, the supreme condiment....
, also known as liquamen, was the universal sauce added to everything. It was prepared by subjecting salted fish, in particular mackerel
Mackerel
Mackerel is a common name applied to a number of different species of fish, mostly, but not exclusively, from the family Scombridae. They may be found in all tropical and temperate seas. Most live offshore in the oceanic environment but a few, like the Spanish mackerel , enter bays and can be...
intestines, to a very slow thermal process. Over the course of two to three months, in an enzymatic process stimulated by heating, usually by exposure to the sun, the protein-laden fish parts decomposed almost entirely. The resulting mass was then filtered and the liquid traded as garum, the remaining solids as alec - a kind of savoury spread. Because of the smell it produced, the production of garum within the city was banned. Garum, supplied in small sealed amphora
Amphora
An amphora is a type of vase-shaped, usually ceramic container with two handles and a long neck narrower than the body...
e, was used throughout the Empire and totally replaced salt
Salt
In chemistry, salts are ionic compounds that result from the neutralization reaction of an acid and a base. They are composed of cations and anions so that the product is electrically neutral...
as a condiment. Today similar sauces are produced in Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
, usually sold abroad under the description "fish sauce
Fish sauce
Fish sauce is a condiment that is derived from fish that have been allowed to ferment. It is an essential ingredient in many curries and sauces. Fish sauce is a staple ingredient in numerous cultures in Southeast Asia and the coastal regions of East Asia, and features heavily in Thai and Vietnamese...
", or nam pla.
Spice
Spice
A spice is a dried seed, fruit, root, bark, or vegetative substance used in nutritionally insignificant quantities as a food additive for flavor, color, or as a preservative that kills harmful bacteria or prevents their growth. It may be used to flavour a dish or to hide other flavours...
s, especially pepper
Black pepper
Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed...
, but hundreds of other kinds too, were imported on a large scale and used copiously. One very popular spice was silphium
Silphium
Silphium was a plant that was used in classical antiquity as a rich seasoning and as a medicine. It was the essential item of trade from the ancient North African city of Cyrene, and was so critical to the Cyrenian economy that most of their coins bore a picture of the plant...
; however, as it could not be cultivated it finally became extinct through overcropping of the wild plant. The inherent flavours of vegetables and meat were completely masked by the heavy use of garum and other seasonings. It was considered an indication of the highest achievement in culinary art if a gourmet could tell neither by sight, nor smell, nor taste what the ingredients of a dish were.
Dessert
Grape
A grape is a non-climacteric fruit, specifically a berry, that grows on the perennial and deciduous woody vines of the genus Vitis. Grapes can be eaten raw or they can be used for making jam, juice, jelly, vinegar, wine, grape seed extracts, raisins, molasses and grape seed oil. Grapes are also...
s were the most preferred. The Romans distinguished between grapes for wine-making and grapes as food. Raisin
Raisin
Raisins are dried grapes. They are produced in many regions of the world. Raisins may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking and brewing...
s were also produced. After grapes, fig
Common fig
The Common fig is a deciduous tree growing to heights of up to 6 m in the genus Ficus from the family Moraceae known as Common fig tree. It is a temperate species native to the Middle East.-Description:...
s and dates played a major part and pomegranate
Pomegranate
The pomegranate , Punica granatum, is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub or small tree growing between five and eight meters tall.Native to the area of modern day Iran, the pomegranate has been cultivated in the Caucasus since ancient times. From there it spread to Asian areas such as the Caucasus as...
s were eaten in many varieties. Quince
Quince
The quince , or Cydonia oblonga, is the sole member of the genus Cydonia and native to warm-temperate southwest Asia in the Caucasus region...
s, figs, dates, grapes, pomegranates, various types of apple
Apple
The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family . It is one of the most widely cultivated tree fruits, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by humans. Apple grow on small, deciduous trees that blossom in the spring...
s, apricot
Apricot
The apricot, Prunus armeniaca, is a species of Prunus, classified with the plum in the subgenus Prunus. The native range is somewhat uncertain due to its extensive prehistoric cultivation.- Description :...
s, peaches, cherries, pears, plums, currant
Ribes
Ribes is a genus of about 150 species of flowering plants native throughout the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. It is usually treated as the only genus in the family Grossulariaceae. Seven subgenera are recognized....
s, strawberries, blackberries, medlars, elderberries
Elderberry
Sambucus is a genus of between 5 and 30 species of shrubs or small trees in the moschatel family, Adoxaceae. It was formerly placed in the honeysuckle family, Caprifoliaceae, but was reclassified due to genetic evidence...
, mulberries
Mulberry
Morus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae. The 10–16 species of deciduous trees it contains are commonly known as Mulberries....
, azarole
Crataegus
Crataegus , commonly called hawthorn or thornapple, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the rose family, Rosaceae, native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe, Asia and North America. The name hawthorn was originally applied to the species native to northern Europe,...
s, citron
Citron
Not to be confused with Cintron.The citron is a fragrant citrus fruit, botanically classified as Citrus medica by both the Swingle and Tanaka systems...
, raspberries, and melons were grown. Lemons were known from the 1st century AD, but not cultivated extensively. The Romans ate walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, chestnuts and pine nuts. Roman bakers were famous for the many varieties of breads, rolls, fruit tarts, sweet buns and cakes.
Cold clams and oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
s (bred on a large scale), which were originally dessert dishes, later became starters.
Cakes, made of wheat and usually soaked in honey, played a big part. Certain kinds of nut
Nut (fruit)
A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...
s were also available, and they were thrown at festivals much as sweets are today.
Alcoholic drinks
Proof (alcohol)
Alcohol proof is a measure of how much alcohol is contained in an alcoholic beverage. The term was originally used in the United Kingdom and was defined as 7/4 times the alcohol by volume . The UK now uses the abv standard instead of alcohol proof. In the United States, alcoholic proof is defined...
was high. Wine was sometimes adjusted and "improved" by its makers: instructions survive for making white wine from red and vice versa, as well as for rescuing wine that is turning to vinegar. Wine was also variously flavored. For example, there was passum
Passum
Passum was a raisin wine apparently developed in ancient Carthage and transmitted from there to Italy, where it was popular in the Roman Empire. The earliest surviving instruction constitutes the only known Carthaginian recipe...
, a strong and sweet raisin wine, for which the earliest known recipe is of Carthaginian
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
origin; mulsum
Mead
Mead , also called honey wine, is an alcoholic beverage that is produced by fermenting a solution of honey and water. It may also be produced by fermenting a solution of water and honey with grain mash, which is strained immediately after fermentation...
, a freshly made mixture of wine and honey; and conditum, a mixture of wine, honey and spices made in advance and matured. One specific recipe, Conditum Paradoxum
Conditum Paradoxum
Conditum Paradoxum is a spiced wine of Ancient Rome. The Latin name translates roughly as "wine of spice and surprise". A recipe for Conditum Paradoxum was given in the classical cookbook Apicius or De re coquinaria and includes the following ingredients: wine, honey, pepper, mastic, laurel,...
, is for a mixture of wine, honey, pepper
Black pepper
Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. The fruit, known as a peppercorn when dried, is approximately in diameter, dark red when fully mature, and, like all drupes, contains a single seed...
, laurel
Bay Laurel
The bay laurel , also known as sweet bay, bay tree, true laurel, Grecian laurel, laurel tree, or simply laurel, is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glossy leaves, native to the Mediterranean region. It is the source of the bay leaf used in cooking...
, dates, mastic
Mastic (plant resin)
Mastic is a resin obtained from the mastic tree . In pharmacies and Nature shops it is called "arabic gum" and "Yemen gum". In Greece it is known as the "tears of Chios," being traditionally produced on that Greek island, and, like other natural resins is produced in "tears" or droplets...
, and saffron
Saffron
Saffron is a spice derived from the flower of Crocus sativus, commonly known as the saffron crocus. Crocus is a genus in the family Iridaceae. Each saffron crocus grows to and bears up to four flowers, each with three vivid crimson stigmas, which are each the distal end of a carpel...
, cooked and stored for later use. Another recipe called for the addition of seawater, pitch
Pitch (resin)
Pitch is the name for any of a number of viscoelastic, solid polymers. Pitch can be made from petroleum products or plants. Petroleum-derived pitch is also called bitumen. Pitch produced from plants is also known as resin. Products made from plant resin are also known as rosin.Pitch was...
and rosin
Rosin
.Rosin, also called colophony or Greek pitch , is a solid form of resin obtained from pines and some other plants, mostly conifers, produced by heating fresh liquid resin to vaporize the volatile liquid terpene components. It is semi-transparent and varies in color from yellow to black...
to the wine. A Greek traveler reported that the beverage was apparently an acquired taste. Beer (cervesa) was known but considered vulgar. Sour wine mixed with water and herbs (posca
Posca
Posca is a fictional character in the HBO/BBC2 original television series Rome, played by Nicholas Woodeson. He is the body slave of Julius Caesar, yet is also his friend, aide-de-camp, and confidante in most things personal and professional...
) was a popular drink for the lower classes and a staple part of the Roman soldier's ration.
Early texts
- ApiciusApiciusApicius is the title of a collection of Roman cookery recipes, usually thought to have been compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century AD and written in a language that is in many ways closer to Vulgar than to Classical Latin....
, a Roman cookery book - Athenaeus of Naucratis, [Deipnosophistae] (The Deipnosophists=The Banquet of the Philosophers). Written in Rome in the early 3rd century AD.
- Cato: De Agri CulturaDe Agri CulturaDe Agri Cultura , written by Cato the Elder, is the oldest surviving work of Latin prose. Alexander Hugh McDonald, in his article for the Oxford Classical Dictionary, dated this essay's composition to about 160 BC and noted that "for all of its lack of form, its details of old custom and...
("On Farming") with recipes for farm products - ColumellaColumellaLucius Junius Moderatus Columella is the most important writer on agriculture of the Roman empire. Little is known of his life. He was probably born in Gades , possibly of Roman parents. After a career in the army , he took up farming...
: De Agricultura book 12, with recipes for conserves - MoretumMoretumMoretum is a type of herb cheese spread that the Ancient Romans ate with bread. A typical moretum was made of herbs, fresh cheese, salt, oil and some vinegar. Optionally, different kinds of nuts could be added. The contents were crushed together in a mortar, hence the name.-Recipes:A recipe can be...
, poem containing a recipe - PetroniusPetroniusGaius Petronius Arbiter was a Roman courtier during the reign of Nero. He is generally believed to be the author of the Satyricon, a satirical novel believed to have been written during the Neronian age.-Life:...
: "Cena Trimalchionis" (The feast of Trimalchio), a section of the SatyriconSatyriconSatyricon is a Latin work of fiction in a mixture of prose and poetry. It is believed to have been written by Gaius Petronius, though the manuscript tradition identifies the author as a certain Titus Petronius...
: satirical sketch of a feast at the home of a rich former slave in the early imperial period - VinidariusVinidariusVinidarius was the compiler of a small collection of cooking recipes, preserved in a single 8th‑century uncial manuscript, claiming to be excerpts from the recipes of Apicius...
: brief late Roman recipe collection
Modern recipe collections
- Patrick Faas, Around the Roman Table. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003; paperback, Chicago: Univesty of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0-226-23347-5.
- Mark Grant, Roman cookery: ancient recipes for modern kitchens. London: Serif, 1999.
- Ilaria Gozzini Giacosa, A Taste of Ancient Rome. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992, ISBN 978-0-226-29032-4.
- Sally Grainger, Cooking Apicius: Roman recipes for today. Totnes: Prospect Books, 2006. [includes Vinidarius]
- Eugenia Salza Prina Ricotti, Dining as a Roman emperor: how to cook ancient Roman recipes today. Rome: L'Erma di Bretschneider, 1995.