Ancient meals and eating habits Part 2 Romans

Ancient meals and eating habits Part 2 : Romans Information is provided from the archaeological record like Pompeii and Herculaneum, roman literature (Petronius ‘s Satyricon, the plays of Plautus and Apicius in “Apicius’s De re oquinaria” and Frescoes and Mosaics. The thermopolium (eatery) of Pompeii, Italy, 1 st century AD

The Mediterranean diet in ancient Roman times – historical path The ancient Roman tradition - on the model of the Greek –was identified in bread, wine and oil products, a symbol of rural culture and agriculture, supplemented by sheep cheese, vegetables (leeks, mallow, lettuce, chicory, mushrooms), little meat and a strong preference for fish and seafood (of which ancient Rome was very gluttonous). Roman fish mosaic

The ancient Roman tradition soon clashed with the style of food imported from the culture of the Germanic peoples, mainly nomads. Germans raised pigs, fat was widely used in the kitchen, and Grew vegetables in small gardens close to the camps. The few grains grown were not used to make bread, but beer. A mosaic depicting a banquet during a hunting trip from the Late Roman Villa Romana del Casale in Sicily

However, the Roman culture showed itself unwilling to change the style of ‘Mediterranean” of feeding with that barbaric. The key elements of the Mediterranean diet, which is the triad oil bread and wine, were exported in regions of continental Europe by the monastic orders, which migrated in those regions to evangelize those peoples. Bread, oil and wine, were also the central elements of the Christian liturgy, but they were later adopted also in the feeding of the common people of Europe. The Christian Roman Empire and the Germanic, crossed with the passage of time with a third tradition, that of the Arab world, which had developed its own unique food culture on the southern shores of the Mediterranean. A bread stall, from a Pompeiian wall painting

The main meals of the Romans “Ientaculum” (breakfast) was served at dawn. “Cena” at mid-day to early afternoon. Cena was the main meal of the day. At nightfall a light they had a supper “vesperna”. With the increased importation of foreign foods, the cena grew larger in size and included a wider range of foods. It gradually shifted to the evening, while the vesperna was abandoned completely. The mid-day meal “prandium” became a light meal to hold them over until cena. Roman spoons with duck or swan handles

Among the lower classes of society, political and social changes were less pronounced as the traditional routines corresponded closely to the daily rhythms of manual labor. Among the upper classes, 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 baths. Around 2 p. m. , the cena would begin. This meal could last until late in the night, especially if guests were invited, and would often be followed by comissatio, a round of alcoholic beverages. A Pompeiian taberna for eating and drinking. The faded painting over the counter pictured eggs, olives, fruit and radishes

• 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 vegetables when available. The richer classes ate their puls with eggs, cheese, and honey and it was also occasionally served 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: one course (gustatio), main course (primae mensae), and dessert (secundae mensae). A multigenerational anquet depicted on a mural from Pompeii (1 st century AD)

• Slaves of Rome, was destined poor food, which consisted of bread and half a pound of olives and olive oil a month, with some salted fish, rarely a little meat. Museum of Artifacts

Foods and ingredients Still life on a 2 nd-century mosaic

Grains • For centuries grains were a staple food. The Romans prepared tasty soups and porridge using all the available grain, and they ate bread and buns made by grain with nutritional value far exceeds from ours. • Barley, durum wheat (emmer or spelled), rye, oats, millet and panic were cultivated since ancient times.

Bread The bread of the Romans was of infinite types: white, black, raised, dry biscuit (for sailors), refined bread with poppy seeds, anise, fennel, celery, cumin, etc. . (with infinite names and forms). The baker (or pistor triticarius, or if he makes cakes placentarius) could use three types flours depending on the level of sieving: fine flour (siligo or pollen), the intermediate type (simila os similago) and a integral flour (cibarium), not sieved. There was then the yeast (fermentum) to be used depending on if you wanted to make a leavened or unleavened bread. A carbonised loaf of ancient Roman bread From Pompeii

A mill and bakery complex at Pompeii

Vegetables, legumes, fruit, nuts The vegetables were often the appetizer: asparagus, artichokes, beets, cabbage, turnips, carrots, chard, turnips, onions, leeks, pumpkins and cucumbers, as well as various salads, cooked or raw vegetables: lettuce, watercress, chicory, endive , mauve. They ate legumes: beans, lupins, lentils, chickpeas, peas. Mushrooms and truffles were finally delicacies. Romans’ tables were rich of fresh fruit (apples, pears, pomegranates, lazzeruole, quinces, plums, blackberries and mulberries, cherries , peaches, apricots, figs and grapes, melons, watermelons) and nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, pine nuts, dates) and of course, olives. A still life with fruit basket and vases (Pompeii, c. AD 70)

A Roman fresco depicting fruit from the House of the Deer in Herculaneum

Olive oil was fundamental not only to cooking, but to the Roman way of life, as it was used also in lamps and preparations for bathing and grooming. The Romans invented the trapetum for extracting olive oil. The olive orchards of Roman Africa attracted major investment and were highly productive, with trees larger than those of Mediterranean Europe; massive lever presses were developed An olive mill from Volubilis, present-day Morocco for efficient extraction.

Meat The Romans ate: pigs, lambs, goats, chickens, geese, ducks, pigeons and doves, game (hare, wild boars, partridges, heasants, deer, roe deer, warblers and thrushes). Frogs and snails were also a specialty. Bacon, sausages of all kinds (especially Lucanica sausage) and ham enriched diet, often eaten with polenta puls) emmer wheat. They did not eat cattle – that were used almost exclusively for work in the fields. An outdoor banquet on a fragmented 4 th century mosaic

Fish The Mediterranean was rich in fish: sardines, anchovies, mackerel, sea bream, torpedoes, sole and tuna, snapper and mullet, redfish, mullet, flounder and lampreys, oysters, lobsters, squid, cuttlefish, octopus, or mussels. The rich classes loved the fresh fish (who ate mostly fried in olive oil or grilled) and seafood, especially oysters, eating raw or fried. The Romans also engaged in snail farming. Roman mosaic of various types of seafood in a basket

Cheeses, were a food staple in Romans’ diet in a large variety from different regions of the empire (mainly from sheep and goat). They were distinguished in soft and hard cheeses. Sometimes they were curdled with flowers of thistle or artichoke with saffron seeds or sap of fig leaves. Columella, recalls a smoked cheese A re-creation of Moretum, a herb and cheese spread eaten cured in brine, flavored with smoke with bread alloy apple.

Seasonings and sweeteners Salt was the fundamental seasoning. In Latin literature, salt (sal) was a synonym for "wit". It was an important item of trade, but pure salt was relatively expensive. The most common salty condiment was garum, a fermented fish sauce. Locally available seasonings included garden herbs, cumin, coriander and juniper berries. Three silver-gilt Roman (piperatoria)or Sweeteners were limited mostly to Honey and wine-must syrup (defrutum). pepper pots from the Hoxne Hoard of Roman Britan

Food provided from the colonies • The Roman colonies provided many foods to Rome; the city received ham from Belgium, oysters from Brittany, garum from Mauritania, wild game from Tunisia, silphium (laser) from Cyrenaica, flowers from Egypt, lettuce from Cappadocia, and fish from Pontus. • Pepper was imported from India, as was spikenard, used to season game birds and sea urchins. Food Fresco in Pompeii

Cooking One of many modes of cooking in ancient Rome was the focus, a hearth that was placed in front of the lalarium. After the development of separate kitchens, the focus began to be used only for religious offerings and for warmth, rather than for cooking. Portable stoves and ovens were used by the Romans, and some had water pots and grills laid onto them. Many Roman kitchens had an oven (furnus or fornax), and some (such as the kitchen of the Villa of the Mysteries) had two. A boy holding a platter of fruits and what may be a bucket of crabs, in a kitchen with fish and squid, on the June panel from a Mosaic depicting the months (3 rd century)

Kitchens At Pompeii, most houses had separate kitchens, most fairly small, but a few large; the Villa of the Mysteries covers a nine-bytwelve meter area. A number of kitchens at Pompeii had no roofs, resembling courtyards more than ordinary rooms; this allowed smoke to ventilate. Kitchens that did have roofs must have been extremely smokey, since there were no chimneys, only high windows or holes in the ceiling. Dionysiac frieze, the Villa of the Mysteries, Pompeii

Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii seen from Above A wall of the triclinum, traditionally interpreted to represent the stages of initiation to the cult

Alcoholic drinks In ancient Rome, wine was normally mixed with water immediately before drinking, since the fermentation was not controlled and the alcohol grade was high. Wine was also variously flavored. For example, there was passum, a strong and sweet raisin wine. Muslum, a freshly made mixture of wine and honey (called a pyment today) and conditum, a mixture of wine, hod matured. One specific recipe, Coditum Paradoxum, is for a mixture of wine, honey, pepper, laurel, dates, mastic and saffron, cooked and stored for later use. Beer (cerevisia) was known but considered vulgar, and was associated with barbarians. Roman amphorae recovered from Catalonia

Convivium The festive consumption of food and drinking was an important social ritual in the Roman world. Known in general terms as the convivium (Latin: “living together”), or banquet, the Romans also distinguished between specific types of gatherings, such as the epulum (public feast), the cena (dinner, normally eaten in the midafternoon), and the comissatio (drinking party). Public banquets, such as the civic feasts offered for all of the inhabitants of a city, often accommodated large numbers of diners. In contrast, the dinner parties that took place in residences were more private affairs in which the host entertained a small group of family friends, business associates, and clients. Roman fresco with a banquet scene from the Casa dei Casti Amanti, Pompeii

Dietary theories The importance of a good diet to health was recognized by medical writers such as Galen (2 nd century AD), whose treatises included one On Barley Soup. Aelius Galenus or Claudius. Galenus better known as Galen of Pergamon was a Greek physician, surgeon and philosopher in the Roman Empire. Eighteenth-century portrait by Georg Paul Busch

BIBLIOGRAPHY • • • https: //www. ncbi. nlm. nih. gov/pmc/articles/PMC 3684452/ https: //en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Ancient_Roman_cuisine C. N Truman’s: “Roman Food” https: //quatr. us/roman-food-rich-poor. htm https: //owlcation. com/humanities/What-Did-the-Ancient-Romans-Eat Students : Bozinakis Anastasios Xenikakis Vasilios Zanai Keisi Stamati Pavlina