Roman eating and drinking
The
Roman Empire comprises the period between the 6th century B.C. and the 5th century A.D. and hence a little more than 1000 years, if we include the pre-empire period of the
Roman Republic. Indeed, if the Eastern
Roman Empire (also known as the
Byzantine Empire) is included, the period could be viewed as lasting approximately 2000 years. During this long period the
eating and drinking habits of the Romans changed under the influence of Greek culture, the political changes from kingdom to republic to empire, and the enormous expansion which brought many new culinary habits and techniques from the provinces.
In the beginning the differences between social classes were not very great, but the disparity grew along with the empire.
Meals
Traditionally in the morning a breakfast was served, the ientaculum or iantaculum, at noon the main meal of the day, the cena, and in the evening the vesperna. Due to the influence of Greek habits and also the increased import of and consumption of foreign foods, the cena increased in size and diversity and was consumed in the afternoon, the vesperna was abandoned, and a second breakfast was introduced around noon, the prandium.
In lower social classes the old routine was preserved, because it corresponded more closely with the daily rhythm of manual labor.
Ientaculum
Originally flat, round breads made of spelt (a cereal grain closely related to wheat) with a bit of salt were eaten; in higher classes also eggs, cheese and honey, along with milk and fruit. In the imperial period, around the beginning of the Common Era, bread made of wheat was introduced and with time more and more baked products begain to substitute for this spelt bread.
Prandium
This second breakfast was richer and mostly consisted of the leftovers of the previous day's cena.
Cena
Among the upper classes, which did not engage in manual labor, it became customary to schedule all affairs and obligations in the morning. After the prandium the last errands would be run and then a visit would be made to the baths. Around 3 o'clock, 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).
Especially 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 spelt, water, salt and fat. The more sophisticated kind was made with olive oil, with an accompaniment of assorted vegetables whenever possible. The richer classes ate their puls with eggs, cheese and honey, and (only occasionally) meat or fish.
Over the course of the Republican period, the cena developed into two 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 three parts: first course, main course, and dessert.
\nTable culture
From 300 B.C., 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 gourmets preferred food with low calories and nutrients. Easily digestible foods and diuretic stimulants were highly regarded.
At the table loose and easy clothing was worn (the vestis cenatoria), and 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 persons would take place per lectus. In imperial times, the only people allowed a place on a lectus were men. 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 dinner-couch. In this fashion at most nine people could dine together at one table. Further guests had to sit on chairs. Slaves normally had to stand.
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 prong when eating snails 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).
A custom alien to many other cultures is that the Romans threw everything that could not be eaten (e.g. bones and shells) 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.
Entertainment
\nDuring a dinner for guests, musicians, acrobats or poets 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. Only a very small minority of the highest classes indulged in the practice of deliberately vomiting to make room for more food. After the main course, during a pause, an offering was made to the Lares, the spirits of the house. This offering normally consisted of meat, cake and wine. The cake was usually coloured with saffron.
Typical dishes
Of course, all food originating in the Americas was unknown to the Romans. This includes potatoes, tomatoes, paprika or capsicums (bell peppers), chilis, corn/maize, pumpkins, turkey and many others.
The starter
This part of the meal was called gustatio or promulsis. It generally consisted of light, appetising dishes. The usual drink was mulsum, a mixture of wine and honey. Eggs - mostly hens' eggs, but also duck, goose and, on rare occasions, even peacocks' eggs - played an important part. Other essential constituents of the starter were salads and vegetables.\nAt large feasts several starter dishes were served one after another.
The usual salad and vegetable plants were:
- legumes such as fava beans, chick peas, peas and lupins, although these were only appreciated by peasants, smiths, legionnaires and gladiators; only lentils imported from Egypt were liked by the upper class. Beans as we know them today stem from America and were not known then. \n* several kinds of cabbage were usually enjoyed with vinegar, kale was cooked in saltpetre, and both the green and the white parts of chard were used.\n* the leaves of many shrubs and weeds were cooked to a mush and strongly spiced; examples are elder, mallow, orache, fenugreek, nettles and sorrel.\n* pickled fruit and vegetables such as olives, leek, onions, cucumbers, melons, capers and cress were called acetaria and were thought to be appetising.
Other constituents of starters were:
- Mushrooms, such as boletus, field mushroom and truffles.\n* Stewed and salted snails, raw or cooked clams, sea urchins and small fish\n* After the Republican period, light meat dishes were also served as starters. One example is dormice, which were bred in special enclosures called gliaria before being fattened-up in clay pots. Small birds like thrushes were also served.
Main dish
Often, an intermediate dish was served before the real caput cenae. The decoration of this dish could be more important than the food itself.
The main dish usually consisted of meat. Common dishes were:
- Beef, though not not very popular as cattle were working animals, used for such tasks as ploughing or pulling carts, so that their meat was usually very tough and had to be cooked for a long time to make it edible. Even calf meat was not popular; only a few recipes for it are known.\n*Pork was the most usual and best liked meat. All parts of the pig were eaten, more unusual parts like the breasts and uterus of young sows were considered delicacies.\n*Wild boar were also bred and fattened before slaughtering.\n*Geese were bred and sometimes fattened. The technique of stuffing was already known, and the liver of stuffed geese was a special delicacy, as it is today.\n*Chicken was more expensive than duck. Other birds like peacocks and swans were eaten on special occasions. Capons and poulards were considered special delicacies. In 161 B.C, the Consul C. Fannius prohibited the consumption of poulards, though the ban was ignored.\n*Sausages, farcimen, were made of beef and pork according to an astonishing number of diverse recipes and types. Particularly widespread was the botulus, a blood sausage which was sold on the streets. The most popular type of sausage was the lucanica, a short, fat, rustic pork sausage, whose recipe is still used today in Italy and other parts of the world. Also the Brazilian linguiça is one of the heirs of this Roman sausage.\n*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 humurously called a porcus Troianus.\n*Hares and rabbits 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.
Fish was served only in later 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 red mullet. At a certain time this fish was considered the epitome of luxury, above all because its scales exhibit a bright red colour 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 garum, 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
literature) could be shown as a characteristic of the
parvenu, who bores his guests with an old-fashionable display of dying fish.
Dessert
Among fruits, grapes were the most preferred. The Romans distinguished between grapes for wine-making and grapes as food. Raisins were also produced. After grapes, figs and
datess played a major part and pomegranates were eaten in many varieties. Quinces, various types of
apples, and
apricots were grown.
Cold clams and
oysters (which were bred in great style), which were originally dessert dishes, later became starters.
Cakes, made of wheat and usually soaked in honey, played a big part. Certain kinds of
nutss were also available, and they were thrown at festivals much as sweets are today.
Drinks and Drinking Habits
Besides water, which had been readily available in good quality throughout
Rome since about 300 B.C, and which could also be served warm or cooled with snow, there was
mulsum (a mixture of wine and honey) as well as various types of
wine itself (normally diluted with water). Wine was often heavily manipulated; for example, there were recipes for making white wine out of red and vice versa. Also, a precursor of
Glühwein was known,
conditum paroxum (a mixture of wine, honey,
pepper,
laurel,
dates,
mastic, and
saffron), which was boiled and consumed hot or cold.
In a
comissatio a
Drinking King was always chosen: he would establish the proportion of wine and water as well as how much everyone could drink. He could also demand
poems or other recitations or speeches from the participants.
Good-looking young waiters mixed the drinks and served them to the guests. The latter wore wreaths, originally probably intended to prevent headaches and other negative effects from the rich alcohol consumed, later simply as decoration.
The Myth of the Vomitorium
\nA popular misconception is that Romans made use of a room called a vomitorium for the express purpose of vomiting in between meals, so that a person could consume more. This myth is false; a vomitorium is really a passage situated below or behind a tier of seats in an amphitheatre, into which the crowds could "spew out" at the end of a show.
Literature
Category:Ancient Rome