Roman Food Keith Andretti

Food & Cooking in the

Roman Empire Keith Andreetti

When are we talking about?

Founding of Rome:

753 BC

Augustus Caesar:

27 BC

Legions leave Britain:

410 AD

Fall of Western Empire: 476AD Fall of Constantinople: = over 2000 years!

1453

Where are we talking about?

= over half of Europe and parts of North Africa and the Middle East

Even if we stick to the height of the Empire we still have to deal with huge cultural differences between: •Rich and Poor •Urban and Rural dwellers •Different ethnic groups

But the Empire was an Empire with trade routes sharing goods and mixing cultures. There was a Roman way of life.

What are our sources of information about Roman Food & Cooking?

Documentary sources Archaeological material Visual images Anthropological clues

Documentary Sources 1 : Apicius 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. Apicius is a text to be used in the kitchen. It is written in ‘vulgar latin’ not to be read by cooks not gentlemen.

The text is organised in ten short books which appear to be arranged rather like a modern cookbook: Ius diabotanon in pisce frixo: piscem quemlibet curas, <salias>,

Epimeles — The Chef friges. Teres piper, cuminum, coriandri semen, laseris radicem, origanum, rutam, fricabis, suffundes acetum, adicies careotam, Sarcoptes — Meats Cepuros — From the garden mel, defritum, oleum, liquamen, temperabis, refundes in caccabum, facies ut ferveat. Cum fervuerit, piscem frictum Pandecter — Various dishes perfundes, piper asperges et inferes.

Ospreos — Peas, beans, lentils, chickpeas, etc.

A herb sauce for fried fish: You treat, <salt>, fry a fish as much as you Aeropetes — Fowl like. You grind pepper, cumin, seed of coriander, root of asafoetida, Polyteles — Fowl oregano, rue, pound the mixture, pour in vinegar, throw in date wine, Tetrapus — Quadrupeds honey, new wine boiled down to 1/3 of its volume, oil, liquamen, blend it, pour out into the stock-pot, bring to the boil. When has boiled, you Thalassa — Seafood pour over the fried fish, sprinkle pepper and serve.

Halieus — Fish

Documentary Sources 2 : Columella, Cato and Pliny all wrote on the subject of agriculture and food production. Along the way they give some information about the preparation of culinary essentials that stocked the Roman kitchen like Passum, Liquamen, and Cheese

Archaeological material 1 : Roman domestic sites yield a lot of pottery much of which can be identified as useful for food preparation, storage or consumption. Mortaria and cheese moulds/strainers are not uncommon. Tableware like Samian is common.

Mortaria (as in pestle and mortar) were food processors used to make a paste from herbs liquids etc.

Replica cheese mould

Cheese moulds were used to strain the whey from the curds to make ricotta or hard cheese

Samian ware was fine tableware made in Spain or France

Archaeological material 2 :

Bronze equipment is rarer and there have been some other spectacular metal finds.

This is a rather classy barbecue This is quite a modern looking strainer

This looks a lot like a modern Dutch griddle for making pancakes

Archaeological material 3 :

Pompeii has yielded superb evidence of domestic cookers and fast food joints.

Military sites sometimes have artefacts relating to camp cooking.

Replica of range from Pompeii

Visual Images 1 : Again Pompeii has some of the best examples of wall painting and mosaic relating to food and cooking.

The Bread Shop.

We can see the shape which suggests the bread was eaten in wedges like soda bread.

It looks as if it is made from white flour though we know that they often used spelt..

Archaeological material links to the visual image. The loaf is from Pompeii and the bread stamps were used to add the trade mark.

Obviously the bread must have been quite solid because if it rose very much the stamped image would be distorted.

The Kitchen.

Slave preparing food in an industrial sized mortarium or mixing bowl.

Visual Images 2 :

The Roman Feast Diners recline whilst slaves or entertainers move about.

Anthropological clues:

Reconstruction of Testum

Torta

Polenta and bean fritters

The Testo

Placenta

Ovens (forni) in modern Italy

Forna in Pomeii

The edible dormouse as in Trimalchiosâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s feast

Sausages Fruits of the Sea

Fruit and vegetables

What did they eat?

Poultry & eggs

Pulses

..and lots of Sauces