The table of times gone by,
immerse yourself in the heart of the cuisine
of Ancient Rome
immerse yourself in the heart of the cuisine
of Ancient Rome
With La table du temps jadis, taste the flavor of Rome !
On the program, a sensory journey to the confines of ancient Rome, where you will be able to delight in the aromas of that time and feel how Roman cuisine was a precious art of living, mirror of a culture and the singularity of an entire people .
Immersing yourself in some recipes from this distant era is to discover how ancient Roman cuisine played a central and fascinating role in the history of cuisine. The Romans who left to posterity famous quotes such as “Carpe Diem” (Pick the present day without worrying about tomorrow), or “In Vino Veritas” (In the wine, the truth) were, in addition to their souls, conquerors , true epicureans, attentive to sharing and their food.
As in many areas, they seized the best of the multiple influences encountered in their immense empire by adopting, for example, the basic triad of bread-olive oil-wine directly from Greek culture. The Romans also developed a true culinary art , the excesses of which have been largely exaggerated until today.
Note also that if we find numerous texts which evoke ancient Roman cuisine , the oldest cookbook, the famous " De re coquinaria " (On culinary things) is signed by the cook Apicius, a Roman citizen who lived between the 1st century BC and 1st century AD under the reign of Emperor Tiberius. Very rich, lover of splendor and luxury, he became famous because of his incredible recipes. A book copied over no less than two millennia and enriched many times over the centuries!
The culinary world of ancient Roman cuisine :
I offer you a little journey back in time, a unique stop which will allow us to share a meal with the Romans of Antiquity . What would then be the taste dishes that could surprise us and delight our taste buds? Can you already imagine a variety of dishes with spicy flavors, an abundance of food? But it wasn't always like this...
During the archaic period (under the Roman Republic), meals were rather frugal and essentially composed of simple, plant-based foods. In this period we are far from the abundance of meals so often recounted. A reality which seems to have evolved over the years, particularly during the imperial era. Indeed, all the delicacies from distant countries bordering the Mediterranean and brought back to Rome by Roman administrators and officers greatly enrich the menus, but not for everyone... The richest Romans then began to eat fish and wild boar. , pheasants, partridges, woodcocks, and even foie gras (it seems that it was the Greeks who transmitted the taste of foie gras to the Romans), all seasoned with numerous aromatics and imported dates. of the Orient . Did you also know that the Romans had the habit of having three different meals during their day: the “ ientaculum ”, the “ prandium ” and the “ coena ”?
The ientaculum , a frugal breakfast
A meal that is often very succinct and quick, devoured as soon as you get up . Usually it is made with bread soaked in wine, a little cheese, olives or leftovers from the day before. In the wealthier and more privileged classes, this first meal is sometimes enhanced with eggs, honey and even fruit. For the youngest, this meal consists of milk (goat's or sheep's milk, because cow's milk is not so common) accompanied by salty focaccia or with honey.
Prandium , a quick lunch
The coena , the real meal of the day
Among the ancient Romans, here is what made up the main and most popular meal of the day . At the end of the afternoon, or as soon as night falls, the Romans embark on a long tasting which can last three hours, or even much more. It is truly a special time of sharing and rest .
Wealthier Romans schedule their social and professional obligations in the morning, then carry out their final tasks after prandium , before heading to the baths.
On special festive occasions among wealthy Romans, the convivium could sometimes even last until dawn the next day. A specific protocol is applied: the nomenclator (slave) guides each guest in the triclinium (the reception room or dining room of a domus , comprising a table and banquet beds) to their place and announces the dishes ( fercula ) which are never less than three and which can reach up to seven, as in the famous feast of Trimalcione . At the dinners of the richest families, a chef ( archimagirus ) is responsible for the meals. The guests do not wear a toga, but a more comfortable and lighter dress, in order to better enjoy their dinner.
In the presence of guests during the Coena, the meal ( convivium ) begins with the “ Gustatio ”, accompanied by various light and appetizing dishes . These appetizers are called promulsis” because they are accompanied by “ mulsum ,” a sweet wine-based drink mixed with honey, pepper and sometimes other spices or flower petals. Promulsis are generally small appetizers, salty and sometimes sweet ( eggs , olives, stuffed dates, salads , seafood , etc. ), designed to stimulate the appetite of guests before the main meal.
This is followed by the “ Primae mensae ” which consists of 3 to 7 fercula made from meat (often pork, wild boar, chicken, dormouse, etc. ), fish and shellfish, dishes very appreciated by the Romans, but roasts are also served. game (quail, partridge, duck, peacock, stork, wild boar, deer, roe deer, etc. )
We finish with the “ Secundae mensa e ” composed of various sweets (cheese focaccia, sausages and cold meats, molluscs, etc. ) followed by sweets (pastries with honey and fresh and dried fruit).
The convivium ends with the “ commissatio” , a sort of festive ritual where the guests gathered after the coena to drink in the company of each other. During the commission, we drink wine, recite poems and talk about philosophy.
How did the ancient Romans eat?
Besides Apicius , various authors ( Juvenal , Petrone , Columella , Pliny the Elder ) describe ingredients and other preparations of ancient Roman cuisine.
One of the features of ancient Roman cuisine is the combination of contrasting flavors : sweet and sour, sweet and sour and spicy. The large choice of dishes, simple or more elaborate, consists mainly of meat, fish and legumes, generously seasoned with sweet and sour sauces. Honey is an almost ubiquitous ingredient and dates are often used in dishes.
Beyond ultimately relatively coarse and consistent preparations based on beans, chickpeas, lentils, lupine seeds, cabbage, bacon... condiments and aromatic herbs play a central role in Roman cuisine .
We thus find coriander, dill, celery, cumin, caraway, bay leaf, lovage ( ligusticum ), mint, mustard, myrtle, oregano, thyme, parsley, savory, rue ( ruta graveolens ), and even ginger.
Bread became part of the daily life of the Romans from the 3rd century BC. JC; it frequently appears in mosaics at Pompei in the form of “ panis quadratus ”, a typically Roman bread, divided into eight equal parts by four lines drawn on the crust. The Romans, masters in the art of baking, used flours from varieties of wheat that can still be found today, such as Triticum Spelta (spelt) or Triticum monococcum (small spelled). In ancient Roman times, there were around twenty different breads.
In the vegetable garden, we find lettuce (often offered during the gustatio), leek, garlic, onion, cabbage, broccoli, parsnip, carrot, asparagus, cucumber, chard and 'artichoke.
The cuisine is prepared with olive oil preserved in terracotta amphorae. Salt common condiment as is white pepper.
An omnipresent ingredient in sweet and sometimes even savory preparations is garum : a kind of fermented condiment, mainly made from salted fish and their entrails mixed with salt and left to ferment in the sun for several weeks, even months. This fermentation creates a liquid which is then filtered and used to season dishes. We find garum in the vast majority of Apicius recipes but if like me, you do not plan to start creating this ancestral sauce (in order to maintain courteous neighborly relations), you can very well use the colatura di alici or Nuoc-Mâm fish sauce to replace it.
Books and references on the cuisine of Ancient Rome
- On the revenue side:
- The culinary art (De re coquinaria) of Apicius
- If you want to know more about the culinary art of this era:
- The ancient Roman cuisine of Nicole Blanc and Anne Nercessian
- A table with ancient Romans by Giorgio Franchetti
Recipes from ancient Rome: delicacies from a distant past
Come on, I'll take you to discover ancient recipes from ancient Roman cuisine that I have tested myself. Unusual recipes that you will be able to concoct with ingredients used today, and thus delight and of course surprise your guests!
