Meal'n'Real
The simple and harsh way of life of the tsarist period, the heyday of the times of the Republic, the peak - and then the sunset - of the Empire … Everything changed: from the territory to the fashion for clothes. Roman cuisine also changed.
For example, bread. Initially, it was a solemn dish, not for every day. Everyday meal was porridge - barley or spelled. Baking was prepared for sacrifice to gods and genius spirits (then they made libum - a cake-flat cake with cheese and eggs) or the ritual of confarration - marriage (then they baked a pie from spelled flour). Then they began to bake bread for ordinary mortals: first from barley flour and pearl barley, then from spelled, millet and now rarely used mogar, and only then from wheat.
This is what Roman cuisine looked like. Quite stylish, I must say.
Baking was also made from acorn, bean and lentil flour, as well as chestnut flour. Such breads were ritual: only for women who served the goddesses. The Romans knew rye, but did not like it - rye bread was considered bitter and harmful to the stomach. They did not like oats either: for people, and not for livestock feed, it was grown only in the German provinces, and then in later periods.
This is what Thermopoly looked like - ancient Roman tavern.
Tastes have changed over time. The barley bread, which the Romans once loved and baked specially for the legionnaires, was found to be insufficiently nutritious and became the food of slaves and peasants. Legionnaires were given it only when they were punished. Wheat flour became the main flour, and bread began to be divided into varieties: "pure" or "white" (from fine flour), "second" (coarser grinding), "peasant" (coarse grinding with an admixture of bran) and "dog" (wholemeal and bran). The first two varieties went to the table for people of the rich and average income, the third - for the peasants and the poor, the fourth - for dogs and slaves.
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The influence of different types of bread on the body was studied and described by the famous ancient Roman physician Galen. He considered the most nutritious bread made from "pure" flour, and the most useful - with a large amount of yeast in sourdough and well-baked. For athletes, he prescribed incompletely baked bread with a small amount of yeast. The old people were forbidden to give bread, where there was a lot of butter and little honey, as well as unleavened bread. But the elderly and those who complained about their health were recommended … bread soup: cooked in wine, milk or water with vinegar.
Edilus (the representative of the plebs in the Roman administration) distributes bread to the poor. When people did not have enough bread, riots began in the city.
The Romans were cool about dairy products. Milk was considered a drink of barbarians and peasants, and it was allowed on the table of townspeople only as part of certain dishes (cereals, omelets, casseroles) or as a medicine - it was believed that the milk of mares and donkeys had healing properties. They didn’t know cream - there wasn’t even such a word in Latin. Butter was considered a barbaric product.
There was enough cheese in Rome, but the fate of barley bread befell them. At first, the Romans loved cheeses - both by themselves, as a dessert, and as part of dishes: in pies, pasta, and snacks. A filling was made from cheese, dried cheese was ground into flour, used as a thickener. The problem with cheeses was that they were cheap. Gradually, cheese became a low-class food - and it was important for the rich to emphasize that they can afford food and more expensive!
The more expensive the better
"More expensive" did not mean "more satisfying", of course, but "more exotic." And here the Romans had no equal. To begin with, Roman cuisine required a variety of spices - expensive, unusual in taste and appearance. From the usual black pepper, which was brought from India for astronomical sums, to the myrtle berries that we did not use or the completely unknown sylphium, which is also a laser.
Such bread - immediately divided into pieces so that it is convenient to break off and eat, - baked in Pompeii.
Sylphia's story is sad. This plant grew only in Cyrenaica on an area of about 200x50 kilometers. Its dried milky juice had a bright pleasant taste, and the plant itself was medicinal. It was used to improve digestion and remove warts, as an antidote for scorpion bites, as a contraceptive, for colds and tachycardia …
The closest surviving relative of Sylphia - ferula asafoetida. Alas, it does not possess the properties of sylphium.
In general, sylphium was worth its weight in silver. Moreover, it was he who was the currency in which the inhabitants of Cyrenaica paid tribute to the Romans. They procured it in large quantities, not caring about how to restore the population. And when they realized it, it was already too late. They tried to grow it both in the Peloponnese and in Ionia, but the sylph did not take root there. Already in the 1st century AD, the sylphium died out - the only plant found with great difficulty was sent as a gift to the emperor Nero, and, apparently, it was the last one.
Among ancient Roman sauces, garum was the most famous, expensive and controversial. It was made from fish (mackerel, anchovy, tuna) or shellfish and fragrant herbs. The raw material was generously salted and left to ferment in the sun for two to three months, stirring occasionally. A transparent thick liquid collected on the surface of the mass - this was the garum. It was collected, poured into narrow-necked jugs and sold for a lot of money. No liquid, except for perfume, cost in Ancient Rome more than high-grade garum.
Garum became a symbol of luxury - and did not go unnoticed by those who were nostalgic for the old days and simple morals. This sauce was fiercely opposed by the author of Natural History, Pliny the Elder, who called garum "poison" and "the blood of decaying fish." The poet Marcial, on the other hand, loved and appreciated the sauce, calling it "proud." Modern scholars tend to agree with Pliny. Garum is believed to be the reason that the ancient Romans almost universally suffered from helminths.
It was in such stone baths that garum was infused.
However, for the city that produced the most garum in the Roman Empire, unsanitary conditions, if they were a problem, were clearly not the main one. On August 24, 79 AD, supplies from there were interrupted forever - by the eruption of Vesuvius, who buried Pompeii with all their garum models under the ashes for a millennium and a half. The very same Pliny the Elder, being not only a scientist, but also the commander of the fleet, saw the beginning of the eruption, brought the ships and began to evacuate the population - but he himself died.
They imported, of course, not only spices. For example, it's not like Rome lacks its own vegetables. For example, cabbage was grown in such a way that, according to Pliny the Elder, it "did not fit on the table of the poor man." Carrots and asparagus, garlic and cucumbers, turnips and sorrel - plus woodruff and whiteweed, quinoa and nettle, fenugreek and mouse hyacinth, rue and juveniles that we did not use … But onions were brought from Egypt, salad - from Asia Minor, rapunzel bell - from Germany …
In Rome, all this, however, also grew. But true connoisseurs are able to appreciate the taste of the best - and can afford it! Let the plebeians eat the local and stuff their belly with the despicable beans found in every vegetable garden. Patricians will import noble lentils from afar!
This is only a small part of the fish known to the Romans.
A similar situation was with fish and shellfish. In Rome, a city located on the Tiber River near the Tyrrhenian Sea, there was enough local fish. Both saltwater and freshwater fish were cultivated in the piscin basins. But from the banks of the Nile they brought black tilapia, from the Red Sea - red mullet, from the Balearic Islands - laskir, and from the North Sea - oysters.
In general, dear fellows, a true Roman is not looking for easy ways. We bring meat from Belgium, pheasants from Colchis, chickens from Numidia. How to keep all this fresh is not our concern, even if the suppliers have a headache. Pears from Syria, dates from Thebes, honey from Spain. Because it is more expensive, which means better!
How was it eaten
The ancient Romans, as a rule, ate three times a day - they had the usual breakfast, lunch and dinner. Like the Greeks, they preferred to eat while lying - on wedge couches borrowed from Greece. Unlike the Greek women, the Romans and children did not sit, but also reclined - of course, those who could afford it. The clinics were divided into groups of three, so that the company of eaters was forced to be divided into groups of three. Later, one large bed began to be made around the tables - this allowed the feasting to gather and eight.
Typical dining room (or rather, rather dinner) hall of the ancient Romans.
A light breakfast at about 8-9 am usually consisted of tortillas, cheese, vegetables and fruits. Moretum, a mixture of cheese, garlic, vinegar, olive oil, cilantro and celery, was often served with tortillas. It was spread on cakes.
Moretum - it's delicious!.
The Romans had lunch at 12-13 o'clock and could not be very different from breakfast. It could, however, be different - when they served what they had prepared for yesterday's dinner and did not finish it. But overall, lunch was also light: olives, cheese, dates, bread. Sometimes baked meat, sometimes mushrooms.
Dinner is another matter. It could start at two o'clock in the afternoon, and drag on - until late at night. In ancient times, even for Ancient Rome (about which moralists loved to sigh afterwards), dinner usually consisted of a pulse - porridge made from spelled, spelled, millet or barley, boiled in water or milk. Vegetables (usually cabbage or beans), eggs, cheese, animal fat or vegetable oil and honey were added to the pulse. On holidays - meat or fish. All. The Romans loved the pulse, for which they received the nickname "kasheedy" from neighboring peoples.
Roman cups and plates were at times true works of art.
Time passed, tastes changed. Dinner began to consist of the main course (usually meat or poultry with vegetables, less often fish) and dessert (fruits and pastries), then an appetizer was added (spicy vegetables, olives, mushrooms, shellfish). And, of course, wine - the Romans knew and appreciated many of its varieties: white, yellow, red and black; cold with ice and hot with spices; with honey and roses, violets and juniper, aloe and resin …
A feast with a hetero: a fresco from Pompeii.
But these are, so to speak, ordinary dinners, moderate and decent. Real Roman feasts - especially in late Rome and especially those of the emperors! - amazed the imagination, and sometimes raised doubts in the sound mind of their organizers.
Thus, the Emperor Aulus Vitellius arranged feasts, where thousands of fish and birds were served to the guests - three or four times a day. Only one dish "The Shield of Minerva the City-holder" by Vitellius himself (which included products like flamingo tongues and moray eels) was worth a large estate. And at the feasts of the emperor Antoninus Heliogabalus, dishes with jewelry were served - for example, rice with pearls (the chroniclers are silent about the taste of pearls and the number of broken teeth). But it is better to chew pearls than to be buried under hundreds of kilograms of rose petals - such performances, according to The History of Augustus, also happened at the feasts of Heliogabalus.
Not all Romans were delighted with the frenetic gastronomic luxury. And the fate of the glutton emperors is proof of this. So, Heliogabalus ruled for less than four years, and Vitellius - even for several months. Outrageous inequality ultimately became one of the reasons that destroyed the Empire.
"Roman Feast" by Roberto Bompiani (1875).
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In general, dear fellows, it is real to survive on the ancient grub - you will even like it. True, you have to do without potatoes and corn - for this you need to get to America. But you can try cranes and crocodiles. Will have something to tell you about when you return to the 21st century.
If you get stuck in the Ancient World forever, then, let's be honest, you will hardly be able to save the Roman Empire. Better hint to Pliny that the evacuation from Pompeii must be started early. Support the eoliek on the part of women's equality - let Sappho engage in agitation, she is charismatic. Educate the Romans that lead cookware and lead plumbing are not a good idea. And find a way to convey the sylph in our time. One would be enough, even dried. It is terribly interesting what the ancient Romans enjoyed with such pleasure …
Author: Tatiana Lugovskaya
