Outline of Ancient Roman Cuisine
A brief overview of ancient Roman cuisine.
From: 753 B.C.E. To: 472 C.E.
Location: Rome, Italy
Note: This article has been excerpted from a larger work in the public domain and shared here due to its historical value. It may contain outdated ideas and language that do not reflect TOTA’s opinions and beliefs.
Rome
I. Early History. Living frugal, like that of early Greeks; food products and methods of preparation very similar. Imitated Greeks in all culinary matters. National dish, porridge.
II. Later Times—Republic.
1. Fish, red mullet favorite.; shellfish, oysters especially. Game of all kinds, birds especially. Domesticated animals, pork highly prized; beef and mutton used; fowl bred extensively. Romans first to caponize cocks. Geese fattened and stuflfed, livers considered great delicacy.
2. Vegetables—cabbage, lentils, beans, peas, carrots, sorrel, parsley, truffles, mushrooms, asparagus; fruits—apples favorite, plums, cherries, pears, nuts of many kinds, olives, grapes for raisins and for wine.
3. Beverages—beer and malt liquors used among common people, wine also common beverage; honey used in certain fermented drinks.
III. Empire—luxury and degeneracy. Feasts of this time marked by:
4. A profusion of viands, number of articles served rather than excellence the criterion—as Feasts of Heliogabalus, Nero, Claudius, Vitellius.
5. Articles brought from great distances and noted for their rarity and costliness.
6. Gluttony rather than epicureanism the custom of the time.
IV. Table Service—like that of the Greeks—reclined on couches around table. Much the same manner of serving and eating as in later Athenian days. Roman culture borrowed bodily from Greek.
Barrows, Anna, and Bertha E. Shapleigh. Outline on the History of Cookery. Teacher's College, Columbia University, 1915.
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