Imagine this: you’re reclining in a dining room so beautiful it makes your eyes water. A fretted ceiling of ivory hides mechanisms for showering you with flowers and perfume. This resplendent chamber is circular, and never ceases to rotate, “like the heavens” themselves. This banqueting fantasy is taken from the writing of Suetonius, a Roman historian describing the rotating dining room of Emperor Nero in his infamous Domus Aurea, or Golden House (eat your heart out John’s!). The fact that Suetonius was writing almost a hundred years after Nero’s reign probably means we should take this fanciful picture with a pinch of salt, but what it does surely demonstrate is that the culinary context was of crucial importance in Roman culture. Whilst we’re accustomed to learning about the elite political dramas and military campaigns of this period, Roman gastronomy is not often the plat du jour in Classical studies. How can we know what the Romans ate?

Archaeological remains can help us to understand the myriad feeding habits of the Romans. On a very pedestrian level, taverns were a ubiquitous feature in any town of considerable size. They can be identified from the counters with large jars in them which would have held food - these were the fast food establishments of the Roman world. Evidence for the spicier side of Classical ingestion can be sought even just from individual objects. The piperatorium, or pepper pot, from the 5th century Hoxne Hoard, was found in Britain’s very own Suffolk. The significance of this particular trinket is that it alludes to long-distance Roman trade networks functioning within the empire. Pepper was imported from India, and the expense required to transport it to Europe rendered it a luxury. The Hoxne pepper pot itself embodies this image of exclusivity in the form of a tiny silver empress, albeit one involved in refined sprinkling. 

Roman literature, as indicated above, is one of our most potent sources for ancient eating habits. The impressions left to us range from the ridiculously indulgent to the pragmatic. Petronius’ Satyricon is a satirical 1st century work which depicts the underbelly of the elite class, complete with bawdy humour and very conspicuous consumption. In one part, the grotesquely extravagant Trimalchio puts on a lavish meal to impress his guests, which includes the parading of “three white pigs, adorned with muzzles and bells” for them to choose from to fill their bellies. Whilst this narrative work is hardly representative of reality, the recipes taken from the Apicius cookbook, alternatively, would have actually been used by slaves for their masters. Dating from the 4th or 5th century AD, this is the only surviving Roman cookbook and the main source from which professional chef and ancient history graduate Sally Grainger has compiled her book Cooking Apicius. Sally has compiled recipes that can be used in the modern kitchen, as even such bizarre ingredients as liquamen (fish sauce) and defrutum (grape must syrup) can be procured if only you know how.

If you’re interested in trying out a Roman recipe for yourself, you could do worse than this Pear soufflé (taken from Apicius 4.2.35):

Ingredients: 

1kg pears (peeled and without core)

6 eggs

4 tblsp   honey

100ml     Passum(sweet wine)

A small amount of oil 50ml     

Liquamen, or 1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp   ground cumin, ground pepper  

Instructions: Mesh cooked and peeled pears together with pepper, cumin,honey, Passum, Liquamenand a bit of oil. Add eggs and put into acasserole dish. Cook approximately 30 minutes on low to moderate heat.Serve with a bit of pepper sprinkled on the soufflé.          

Perhaps a little experimental in its vagueness…but hey, the Romans never killed anyone - right? 

Not yet surfeited on the subject of Roman cuisine? On the 23rd of February the Herodoteans’ Classics society will be hosting a unique Cambridge formal hall experience: a Roman feast. The feast, designed by Sally Grainger herself, will feature four courses and a talk by the food historian. For more information, please consult the facebook event.