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Romans generally ate one large meal daily. Breakfast (ientaculum), if taken, was a light meal at best, often nothing more than a piece of bread. This was followed by the main meal of dinner (cena) at midday, and a small supper (vesperna) in the evening. Later, however, it happened that dinner was eaten as a large meal in the evening, replacing supper and adding a light lunch, or prandium.

For the poor, meals consisted of porridge or bread with meat and vegetables, if available. For the wealthy, the meal was divided into three courses (ab ovo usque ad mala - from egg to apples). The 1st was an appetizer made of simply eggs, fish, shellfish, and raw vegetables known as gustatio or promulsis. The main course, prima mensa, consisted of cooked vegetables and meats, based on what the family could afford, and was followed by a desert (secunda mensa) of fruit or sweet pastries.

The Romans sat upright to eat, but the wealth often reclined on couches at diner parties, or ate outside in gardens, with the weather permitting. For the poor, tableware probably consisted of coarse pottery, but for those willing to spend a slightly prettier penny, tablewares could be purchased in fine pottery, glass, bronze, silver, gold, and pewter.

Food was eaten with the fingers and cut with knives crafted from anter, wood, or bronze with an iron blade. Bronze, silver, and bone spoons existed for eggs and liquids. These spoons had pointed handles that could be used to extract shellfish and snails from their shells.