The diet of the vast majority of people in the ancient Roman world consisted of a simple routine of grain, olive oil, and wine. The grain was usu-
Ally consumed either in the form of bread or as a kind of porridge or gruel. This diet was sometimes supplemented by fruits or vegetables when available. Meat, especially red meat, would have been a rarity. Pork was the most readily available red meat product. Fish and poultry were probably more commonly eaten than animal meats.
Adding some flavor to this diet was a kind of fish sauce called gariim that appears to have been much loved by the Romans. The recipe for making garuni was to take many of the undesirable parts of the fish, such as the entrails, heads, and fins, and mix them together with herbs and olive oil. This concoction was placed in a barrel or pot and put in the sun, where it was allowed to ferment. The resultant smelly paste was strained and served hot over bread or added to other foods. There were even the Roman equivalent of fast food restaurants where pedestrians could come up to a counter and purchase a bowl of ganim with some bread.
While the culinary lives of most Romans were monotonous, rich, upper-class Romans were able to eat a vast array of exotic comestibles and to hold lavish banquets. Breakfast and lunch were usually light meals, while dinner, or cena, was the principal meal of the day and the occasion for sometimes very elaborate meals.
At a formal Roman dinner party, the guests arrived, removed their shoes, and were led to a dining room called the triclinium. Romans lay down on couches when they ate, leaning on their left elbows. Around three sides of a square table were placed low benches or beds called triclinia. As the name suggests, each held three diners, so a full dinner party consisted of nine people. If there were more guests, the host had to set up another group of triclinia. Romans used knives and spoons but not forks. The first course of appetizers consisted of little treats such as olives, snails, vegetables, eggs, or shellfish. Main courses were elaborate meat dishes. Pig udders and boar meat were very popular, while eels and lampreys were particular delicacies. Many wealthy Romans owned heated fishponds where eels were raised, and aristocrats competed to see who could grow the biggest and tastiest eels. Dessert consisted of nuts or fruit, such as apples, pears, and figs.
There might have been entertainment at the meal; music, jugglers, magicians, actors, and literary readings of poetry or history were frequent accompaniments to a dinner party. After the meal was eaten, there would be drinking and conversation. The host determined the ratio of wine to water that would be drunk and often selected a topic of conversation. There were guidebooks for hosts that listed suggested topics ranging from serious philosophical ones such as "What are the characteristics of the noble man?" to lighter subjects, including, "Why is fresh water better than salt for washing clothes?" "Is Wrestling the oldest sport?" and "What came first, the chicken or the egg?" Finally, the guests went home, but first they might wrap up uneaten food in their napkins to save as a snack for later.
Some wealthy Romans were famous for their gluttony, and there are many well-known instances of ostenfafious banquets. The best source for elaborate Roman recipes is a cookbook written by a famous glufton named Apicius. He is said to have spent 100 million sesterces on food, and, when he realized that he only had a few million left, he decided that he could no longer dine properly so he committed suicide. He left behind a book of recipes that range from familiar dishes such as omelets and sweet and sour pork to more exotic fare like ostrich brains, flamingo tongues, sheep's lungs, and pigs' wombs.
Roman gourmands paid enormous sums for the perfect fish, such as the
8,000 sesterces that were spent on one mullet, and periodically the Roman state actually passed laws making it illegal to spend more than a certain amount on one meal or to make overly elaborate dishes. Julius Caesar sent soldiers and lictors into people's dining rooms to make sure that their meals were not too ostentatious and to confiscate excessively elaborate dishes. As an indication of the heights to which luxury could ascend, the emperor Caligula once spent 10 million sesterces on a single dinner party.
Wine was the Roman's drink of choice. The Romans, like the Greeks, usually diluted their wine with water before drinking if. Romans also enjoyed some wines that were served warm, which often had spices added. A popular hot drink was mulsum, which was wine sweetened with honey. Fine wines were allowed to age before being drunk, and the Romans recognized that some vintages were superior to others. Imported wines from Greece, such as Chian or Lesbian, were regarded highly. Among Italian wines, Falernian was particularly prized, as well as being considerably more expensive than run-of-the-mill vintages.
Water was also drunk, although even relatively poor people probably had access to some amount of wine. Consuming beer was frowned upon and indeed was considered to be the mark of a northern barbarian. Mediterranean-based peoples such as the Romans defined themselves by their diets so that a Roman governor of a northern province along the Danube was driven to bitterly complain that the locals led a wretched existence because they did not cultivate grapes to make wine.
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