Roman Food

Italy – good natural conditions. Modified by seas, mountains, wind. Good soil. NE to SE.

Early Romans = Shepherds. Meat, wild fruits, nuts. Pecunia = money (pecu = flock). Fabius (faba = bean), Cicero (cicer = chickpea), Piso (pistor = miller), Caepio (caepe = onion) Porcius (porcus = pig), Vitellius (vitellus = calf), Ovidius (ovis = sheep)

Garden = second meat supply. But meat not principal food => Grapes, olives, grain.

Apples, pears, plums, quinces. Competition for cultivation, naming new fruits. Introduced Nuts – Almonds, filberts, hazelnuts, pistachios, walnuts. Introduced Fruits – Apricots, peaches, pomegranates, cherries(Lucullus, from Cerasus in Pontus) Lemons = 300 AD, Oranges not known. Dried/Preserved fruits – Slow tranport, no fresh fruit

Vegetables – Artichokes, asparagus, beans, beets, cabbage, carrots, chicory, cucumbers, garlic, lentils, melons, onions, peas, poppy seed, pumpkins, radishes, turnips. Corn, potatoes, tomatoes – not known.

Beans (too heavy for people not doing hard labour), Onions (unrefined to eat) Cabbage = Cato pronounced finest vegetable. Imported larger / better vegetables – not fresh. Greens – cress, lettuce, mallows. Poppies – poppy seed w/ honey, sprinkled on bread Anise, cumin, fennel, mint, mustard. Pepper imported.

Beef – luxury food, ordinary citizens ate only on special occasions (such as sacrifice to gods) Heart, liver, lungs = priest’s share, some burned on altar. Large size hard to store unless cold weather, so not common eat. Used cows for draft / dairy purpose. Pork – Choicest domestic meat. Many names => Sus, porcus, porca, aper. Suovetaurilia = (sus + ovis + taurus) religious ceremony, pig comes first. 6 kinds of sausage from pork, 50 ways of cooking pork. Mutton + veal. Goat’s meat => lower classes.

Chickens, ducks, geese, pigeons. Turkeys not known till 1492. Peacock - $10, rich food. Cranes, grouse, snipe, woodcook – wild fowl, raised in preserves in large estates Thrushes = small birds.

Boars + hare – wild animals bred for food. Boars served whole. Dormouse = delicacy.

Mullet (mullus), turbot (rhombus). Oysters. Fresh fish = alive transport => fishponds in rich house, Lucius Licinius Crassus 92 BC Salt fish, eggs, cheese – popular – Cicero says = hash.

Milk, cream, curds, whey, cheese. Sheep, goat, cow milk. Ewe’s milk cheese = more digestible, less palatable than cow’s milk cheese. Goat’s milk cheese = less digestible, better liked Butter = salve, not food

Honey = sugar (had no real sugar). Salt = evaporate sea water -> mine -> gov’t monopoly. Salt kept cheap. Frumentum = food grain. 55 times in Gallic War. Corn translate Frumentum = grain Usually wheat – staple grain for food. Barley, oats, rye – Barley not used, oats feed cattle, rye not grown. Far (spelt) = wheat, used much => not used. Only in cake for confarreate ceremony of marriage.

Puls = grain pounded by mortar, mixed w/ water, porridge. => Plautus – “pulse eaters” Mortar pound grain => Mills develop. Pinsitores, pistors = men who ground grain, bakers also called pistors b/c ground grain also. Found oven beside mills.

Mills - 3 parts: Meta = lower millstone. Cone shaped on bed of masonry w/ raised rim (collects flour) Upper part – beam mortised, ending in iron pin/pivot (hung/turned framework) Distance between meta/catillus controlled by length of pin. Control fineness Catillus = Upper millstone. 2 funnels. Upper funnel = hopper for grain, lower fit w/ meta. Framework – Strong + massive, beams used for turning mill fit into narrow part of catillus Power provided by mules/horses. Slaves also (punishment) Smaller hand mills used by soldiers. Water powered mills under empire. (rarely mentioned)

Porridge => Bread – thin cakes of meal + water baked in front of fire. Ovens, breads made w/ yeast. Mater familias make before => Professional bakers 175 BC After bakeries, bread not make in house. (in country still make) Under Trajan, bread distribute to unemployed daily (not grain once/month). Bakers in guild => privileges + immunities. Water, salt, yeast add to flour => kneaded in trough/simple machine. Brick ovens. True oven: Build fire. Opening furnish draft. Chamber retain heat after fire rake out. Charcoal fire. Rake out fire into ash pit, put loaves in, vent closed. Receptacle for water – harden bread.

Fine wheat flour = best bread. Coarse wheat flour: panis plebeius (common), panis castrensis (army), panis sordidus (dark), panis rusticus (country) Prefer fine white bread but whole wheat bread more nutritious. Loaves circular, flat – like coffee cakes. Lines through center divide into 4+ parts. Some bakeries also make cakes + confections.

Olives – many uses, much cultivation in southern Europe. From Greece => Italy (best olives) Valuable for oil – best oil from not fully ripe, most oil from ripe. Use like butter/fats in cooking, relishes, dressings. Olives eaten both fresh + preserved. Sprinkled w/ salt, left for 5 days, Dried in sun. Kept sweet in boiled grape juice. Half ripe picked w/ stems, put in best oil. Retain flavour for more than 1 year Green olives pickled in brine or crushed and preserved w/ spices/vinegar (relish) Another Relish – stoning, chop up pulp, season w/ vinegar, coriander seeds, cumin, fennel, mint, place in oil. Served w/ cheese.

Wine – make with grapes, common next to water + milk. Drank mixed w/ water. More water than wine (8x as much water in some). Only dissipated drank pure wine Not considered civilized Cheap wines – few cents a quart. Others very expensive. Mulsum = 4 parts wine to 1 part honey. Mulsa = water + honey ferment together. Apple cider, mulberry + date wines, cordials. No tea/coffee.