Eating and Drinking in Ancient Rome
The Roman's mastery of food and cooking fueled their geographic expansion and helped them win loyalty from conquered people. From the age of kings to the Republic through Imperial Rome, cooking evolved to include delicacies from conquered people while maintaining its Greek roots.
Cuisine throughout the Roman empire varied from social class, region, and season. Just as today, dining had components of survival and indulgence.
Food allowed wealthy Romans to display their opulence, enhanced the quality of life for typical Romans, and kept the slaves nourished and strong enough to complete their arduous physical labor.
The fundamentals of the Roman diet, particularly the focus on seafood and vegetables, have survived as the foundation of the modern-day Mediterranean Diet. Roman's use of spices and sauces is apparent in today's Middle Eastern and North African cuisine.
What Were the Staples of a Roman Diet?
As more territory and provinces came under Roman control, the breadth and width of the Empire meant that Romans could import popular foods and export their cooking style. This cultural exchange improved life at home and abroad because culinary advancements satisfied evolving tastes and capitalized on the scope of Rome's expansion. While cooks adapted to new livestock and spices to help make sauces, Roman diets were amazingly consistent throughout the entire era.
Grains and Beans
Researchers estimate that three-quarters of a typical Roman's daily caloric intake came from wheat, lentils, and chickpeas. These resilient crops were the basis for many dishes and provided a nutritious cornerstone to a person's diet. Legumes were a cheap source of protein, helping nourish the lower classes, who expended the most physical energy.
Puls was a simple porridge eaten by the original inhabitants of Rome and passed down to their descendants. It was a simple meal made from wheat, water, salt, and fat. Meat, cheese, vegetables, or seafood enhanced the meal, depending on the diner's class.
Bread was the go-to food for members of a legion and city residents. The lower classes ate coarse, dry bread made with barley or other inexpensive grains. Members of the upper class enjoyed decadent white bread made with high-quality yeasts.
Vegetables and Fruits
Access to fresh vegetables was tied to wealth and class. They were often the focus dish of many opulent meals because they displayed the host's fiscal ability to maintain a thriving farm. Romans ate salads featuring greens, beets, leeks, gourds, mushrooms, and olives.
Fruits, including dates, peaches, and cherries, were imported to Rome from across the Empire. Wild and cultivated berries, pomegranates, quinces, melons, plums, figs, grapes, apples, and pears were common components of meals, often served as or used in desserts.
Related Page: The Use of Fruits in Ancient Roman Cuisine
Meat and Animal Products
Meat, cheese, milk, and other animal products changed in status and desirability throughout Rome. Early on, they were valued and consumed across social classes. As the Republic gave way to the Empire, many elites embraced veganism, seeing animal products as the food of the poor.
Throughout most Roman times, dormice, hare, snails, and boar were the most common meats. They also ate fowl, including thrushes, chickens, and pheasants. Most meats were game rather than farmed meat. Eggs were served at almost every meal and considered a necessity.
Beef, lamb, and pork were readily available to the Roman population. Ham and other meats were commonly cured and salted, both to store them for travel on trade voyages and to preserve them for consumption at home.
The ancient Romans favored milk from goats over cows. Cheesemaking was a widespread and refined practice, with highly differentiated soft and smoked cheese. The cheese was also preferable to milk because it lasted longer and was convenient for transport.
Fish and Seafood
Fish, oysters, eel, and shrimp were all consumed and more popular than meat. Roman fishing was a significant economic industry. Fish kept better when smoked, cured, or salted, allowing trade and commerce to spread. All parts of the fish were used, with prime fillets making it to the wealthy, while the refuse was used to feed the poor and make sauces such as garum (see below).
Spices and Flavoring
The primary flavorings in Rome were salt, which was also vital for food preservation, and garum, a salty fish sauce that served as an ingredient, topping, and sometimes even a beverage. The condiment was wildly popular and gave the food a distinct umami flavor that people still crave today.
Food and Dining by Class
Generally, Romans consumed three meals per day, like many modern societies. While feasts and reveling happened, daily food consumption was surprisingly similar to how modern people eat. The portions, scope of options, and quality were stratified by class.
In most cases, Romans ate their breakfast, called ientaculum, at dawn. This meal was light, featuring bread and usually eggs. Romans ate cena, which was the day's largest and main meal, at midday. After dark, they concluded the day with another light meal called vesperna. Over time, the cena got larger and shifted to later in the day. Upper-class Romans discontinued vesperna and instead ate a light midday meal to tide them over between breakfast and dinner.
Wealthy and Upper-Class Romans
As Roman social classes differentiated, meal times and scope shifted for each class. The wealthy and elite ate breakfast and conducted all their business in the morning. Their goal was to conclude all work by early afternoon, eat prandium - a light lunch or snack - and then proceed to the baths for leisure, socializing, and public discussions.
They would return home and begin cena around 2:00 pm. During the days of the kingdom, the wealthy would have puls, the same porridge eaten by everyone. However, theirs included eggs, cheese, honey, fish, or meat. As society entered the Republican Era, the meal was broken into two courses, the entree and a dessert made with fruit and seafood. As time went on and the Empire rose, cena became three parts, gustatio (appetizer), primae mensae (main course), and secundae mensae (dessert).
The cena was generally a social engagement that allowed the wealthy to show off to their peers. The homeowner and their guests dined in the triclinium, or formal dining room. The tables were low to the ground and surrounded on three sides by couches. The fourth side provided access for the servants to present each course and bus the table. The guests were seated around the host in order of importance. If the home's garden was large enough and the weather was tolerable, cena was often served outdoors, with diners lounging on couches.
The triclinium was ornate and filled with art to represent the owner's wealth and status. Many homes had an oikos, a smaller secondary dining room for family meals and unimportant occasions.
Indulgences
While the wealthy separated themselves with their use of spices and the quality of their wine, they reveled in serving the finest delicacies. The most common was baked dormice; small rodents that hibernate for months-long periods. The ancient Romans bred dormice and housed them in glirariums, vented terracotta pots. The dormice were fed nuts and honey to fatten them up. The darkness of the pot induced sleep so that the dormice would remain plump and tender.
Romans would then stuff them with pork or meat from other dormice, season them with herbs, coat them in poppy seeds, roast them, and dip them in honey for serving.
They also ate sea urchins, which would be comparable to eating lobster today. A single urchin yielded very little meat, making them rare and expensive. Ancient cooks boiled broth and sweet wine, added the urchin, and garnished the fish with pepper, mint, and bay leaves.
Middle-Class Romans
The diets and routines of middle-class Romans mirrored the upper class, albeit with lower-grade ingredients. The typical middle-class Roman ate three meals a day. Cena may have begun later for workers and merchants, depending on their daily obligations. These Romans also ate in their homes, but rarely feasted as their wealthier counterparts did.
Lower-Class Romans and Slaves
With lives centered around manual labor, the lower class and slaves needed nutrient-rich and hearty foods that would provide the energy necessary to complete their tasks. At the same time, the food had to be cheap, made from the lowest-quality ingredients. Their meal schedule also centered around their workday. The lowest in society ate their largest meal at midday and bookended it with a small morning and evening meal.
Their diet consisted primarily of puls, which was generally thin and flavorless, especially compared to their affluent counterparts. Their primary source of protein were beans and legumes because they had little access to meats and seafood. Their meals were eaten without significant ritual or convention. They likely had access to rudimentary spoons and mostly ate with their fingers.
Desserts
The Romans ate many deserts and considered them an essential part of meals. Honey was their primary sweetener, but they also cooked with passum, a sweet raisin wine, and defructum, a grape puree. These were used in baked goods and to flavor porridge. Globi, a type of sweetmeat, and pancakes fried with honey and sesame seeds, were also common.
Beverages
Much like bread crossing all social classes - albeit with varying qualities - so did wine. Everyone, from the slaves to the wealthy, consumed large amounts of wine. Ancient alcohol was more potent than modern wine and much stronger-tasting. The poor drank the harshest wines diluted with water. While cabbage is considered a good source of fiber for modern diets, ancient Romans considered it their go-to hangover cure.
The higher classes also diluted their wine, but blended it with spices and herbs to create smoother-tasting drinks. Mulsum, a cup of wine mixed with water and sweetened with honey, was typically served between courses during cena.
Roman women were allowed to drink, but being intoxicated was considered a cultural trespass and highly frowned upon. Beer was present throughout the Empire but generally confined to the northern provinces. Within the city of Rome itself, beer was considered a lowly beverage suited only for barbarians.
Cooking and Eating Utensils
Ancient Romans mainly ate with their fingers and spoons, regardless of class. Cooks served most dishes in bite-size portions to limit the need for slicing and cutting. Spoons and knives, which were bronze, were expensive and used only by the wealthy. Forks did not appear until the 4th century AD but were quickly adopted.
The commoners and the poor ate on wooden dishware or pottery. Wealthier Romans ate off ornate bronze, tin, and pewter dishes featuring images of food and the gods.
Mappa were the Roman equivalent of napkins. People carried the large pieces of cloth to dinner parties, where they would be used during the meal and then folded into a carrying container for taking leftovers home.
Cooking Methods
Much of a typical Roman meal was served raw and garnished with sauces because it was the simplest method, and society valued vegetables and fruit. For freshness, the meat was usually slaughtered the day it was prepared and consumed, except for salted meats and sausages.
Roman homes featured a brazier, the implement in which food was boiled, broiled, or roasted. Cooking was dangerous due to the lack of fire suppression methods and the wood used in home construction. Most foods were fried or sauteed because those temperatures were safely achievable using fire. The intense heat needed to bake dishes was unattainable in a home kitchen due to the strength of the cooking apparatus and the intensity of the fire.
Spices, condiments, and sauces were the main component of cooking. Chefs flavored their meals with wine, oil, garum, honey, vinegar, herbs, spices, and juices from meat and fish depending on their financial means. It took cooks years to perfect their skills. Cookbooks were widely published and used. Many of the texts survived, most famously, the Art of Cookery by Apicius.
Household cooking centered around the lararium, an altar dedicated to the home's preferred gods, and the focus, the hearth where cooking took place (Related Page: The Roman Domestic Cult). Wealthy Romans also owned portable metal or stone ovens used as an alternative to the focus. Based on surviving structures in Pompeii, archeologists believed even modest homes had dedicated kitchens. They were semi-detached and constructed without roofs to allow proper ventilation and prevent heat buildup.
Roman cooking was an art form that people had to perfect for themselves because most meals were consumed in the home or as the guest of another person, although the wealthy had servants to cook for them of course. What we would recognize as restaurants existed, but were not a common source of dining.
Commercial Cooking and Dining
Inns and Taverns
Most towns had cauponae, which were roadside inns, and popinae, which were taverns, to accommodate travelers. Both sold prepared meals and wine to people passing through and to lower-class locals. The wealthy typically avoided these establishments because they were considered hubs for transients, prostitution, and general illicit activity.
Bakeries
Bakeries were thriving businesses due to the centrality of grains and bread to the Roman diet. The specialized facilities featured massive ovens that could safely be heated to the temperatures needed to bake bread. The bakeries sold prepared loaves, but also welcomed customers who brought their own raw dough from home.
Thermopolia
Thermopolia were the Roman equivalent of fast-food counters or food trucks. They were stands that sold baked cheeses, lentils, nuts, seasoned meats, mulled wine and more for on-the-go dining. They were common in densely populated cities. They consisted of a counter and simple structure with large vats and amphorae set into the counters which contained preserved foods that the operators heated for customers.
Archeological Evidence
Researchers and historians have recreated the Roman diet in conventional and revolutionary ways. Surviving Roman mosaics and artwork depict a variety of vegetables, fruits, livestock, and dishes that were popular and key to the average Roman's diet. These discoveries gave archeologists clues into the foods that were the staples of life before, during, and after the Empire.
The preserved ruins of Pompeii offered deeper insight into the nature of cooking and dining. Archeologists unearthed culina kitchens that were active during the eruption, dishware, and shops where food was sold. This provided insight into cooking practices, purchasing food, and typical table settings.
Finally, researchers partnered with scientists to analyze fossilized human waste from sewage systems and the stomach contents of people petrified during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. Technology allowed investigators to recreate the average caloric intake of Roman inhabitants and the cornerstones of the Roman diet.
Popular Dishes
Lucanian Sausages
Lucanian sausages were incorporated into the broader Roman diet in 200 BC by soldiers returning from Lucania, at the southern tip of modern-day Italy. These smoked sausages were peppery and spicy, and are still eaten today.
Boiled Eggs in Pine Nut Sauce
As mentioned earlier, eggs were the most common Roman appetizer and served during most meals. This dish entailed a medium-boiled egg seasoned with pepper and soaked pine nuts. It was then coated in a honey and vinegar mixture before being garnished with garum.
Pear Patina
Pear patinas were a dessert staple made from boiled pears, which were then ground into a paste and mixed with pepper, cumin, honey, passum, garum, and olive oil. The mixture was combined with beaten eggs, shaped into a pancake, and fried.
