Roman Food

The classic image of Roman food culture is that of exotic and elaborate dishes accompanied by rivers of wine and an orgie, this is not how ordinary people ate. The ancient Roman era spans several hundred years, I am referring to the period between 100BC until 300AD.

Agriculture
The Romans had advanced agriculture to a lot higher level than the Greeks. One of the reasons is that big parts of Italy had good soil. The staple grain was wheat. Bread, just like in most Mediterranean cultures, was on every mans table. A wide array of products was grown aside from wheat, examples are: beans, lentils, sesame, olives, peas, hemp, turnip, grapes, apples, pears and plums. Cows were kept for milk production, oxes and mules did the work, sheep and goats provided cheese and wool for clothing. The many provinces controlled by the Roman empire specialized - some regions were olive producers, others made wine etc. These regions many times produce the same products still today! In general you can say that the Romans modernized agriculture and in many ways were very innovative. They started to import crops and plants, analyzed what soil and manure was best for what, specialized and diversified - they made science out of farming. Today few historians would argue against that the agricultural system of Rome was what made their great armies possible.

Export And Import
In all Mediterranean cultures trade was important for the economy, for Rome it was a necessity. Rome and the Italian peninsula had grown so much in population that the motherland couldn´t feed all of them, hence they relied on import. Some has argued it was an effect of speculation, grapes and olives were a lot more profitable to grow than wheat. Egypt was a major provider of grains, from Greece they got wine, from the Middle East spices. The import of Rome grew exponentially with their power and population, in the end they even imported a religion.

Meat And Fish
Fish was eaten but not very often since the supply was a lot lower than the demand. Cows were mostly bred for milk. The most popular meat animal was the pig and it was cooked in many fashions. Pork sausages were very common. They ate various type of fowl like geese and chicken, hares and rabbits were also popular.

Spices And Seasoning
Honey was the standard sweetener in Roman food and used in main courses, desserts as well as wine. Spices were very popular and both grown and imported from far away. Pepper, fennel, coriander seeds, most of the spices we use today. For Romans spicy food was good food. One particular seasoning stand out, that is "garum". It was a kind of fermented fish sauce of Greek origin. It was used abundantly in cooking - as seasoning and even as medicine. It can be compared to the East Asian fish sauces we have today.

Wine
Just like in Greece it was drunk by almost everyone. The rich got the better quality and the poorer the second rate. Most of the time the wine was diluted with water and mixed with honey and various spices - often it was heated.

Cooking And Food Preservation
Clay ovens were commonly used for bread making, later on stone ovens came in fashion. Roman food was cooked in cauldrons or just over open fire. Preservation methods were pickling, salting, drying and smoking. Click to get to my Roman Food Recipes page


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