Rome was a world where extravagance was considered a necessary expression of wealth and power, and the meal was no different. The amount of care taken in the planning of a menu, the preparation of a dish, or the expense used, displayed the opinion of the guest in the eyes of the host. It was a fine line to walk, though, as too simple a meal was insulting and the reverse was considered to be too pretentious. A "modest man" as described by Juvenal dined on foods like plump kid, wild asparagus, eggs and a sampling of fruits such as grapes, pears, or apples. In contrast, the meals of the wealthy were much more lavish with exotic foods being imported from all over the realm and the world—including: pickles, ham, wine, oysters, varieties of fish, and various spices.

This feast is an effort to recreate some of the dishes of the ancient world, and this narrative will hopefully explain some of the reasons why I took the steps that I did in preparing this feast, as well as, some of the alterations I made. I hope that you enjoy your meal.

One of the first and most daunting concepts was that the palate of someone living during the Roman era differs greatly than that of modern society. Wait, did I read that right—peaches with cumin, wine, and broth?! (*1) In fact, it is doubted that the upper classes of Rome ever partook of natural and unadulterated flavors. Like modern recipes, those surviving from the ancient world included the addition of herbs, but in combinations we aren’t used to, as well as the addition of some rather unusual flavorings like silphium (asa foetida), muria, liquamen, and garum. They also used portions of the animal that aren’t as commonly used today, and they used them with much more frequency—specifically the brain.

One of the things that is important to remember is that the lifestyle for those of the era was much different than our own. They didn’t have the type of agricultural industry we do today, nor the refrigeration/freezing methods that are available to us. Though, ancient societies did come up with clever ways of dealing with this. Some wealthier homes kept fish ponds and aviaries to supply fresh meat to the household. We, in modern society, have almost any type of fruit or vegetable, meat, cheese, spice, etc. available to us every day at a relatively reasonable cost. This can be something that is easily taken for granted when redacting recipes. For Roman society, even though they developed some fairly clever means of preservation (Apicius devoted an entire chapter to it), it simply wasn’t possible to eat some foods out of season. The eating of beef was almost unheard of because cattle were used as work animals; their meat was too tough to be consumed.

Another consideration is that the modern household can not afford to have a chef living in their home, devoting all of their time to the preparation of meals, and executing each dish with great skill. Joseph Dommer Vehling argues in his 1936 translation of Apicius that there is some evidence that the manuscript was written for a competent and experienced cook. Some of the recipes are vague in quantity or seem to assume that a cook should already be familiar with the preparation of certain types of dishes, and therefore, the recipes left off many of the instructions. (*2) This seems logical if one remembers that in the homes of the nobility, the food was prepared by someone who knew how to cook and could spend all day doing so. They had the time to perfect a recipe and bring out the best qualities of the ingredients involved. Vehling goes on to say:

Using these materials and techniques was the result of necessity. "They have graduated from the merciless school of hunger," he adds.

There are some ingredients that come up in Roman cooking that don’t have an easy counterpart in modern cuisine, leaving them to be highly debated amongst scholars. In my preliminary research, I found some differing opinions on the following:

Liquamen: It is not really clear from Apicius exactly what is meant. According to Vehling, this could stand for broth, sauce, stock, gravy, or drippings. He interprets it as a liquid that derives from food materials, be it vegetable or meat based.

Garum: is generally considered to be a generic name for "fish essences." It is similar to anchovy sauce made of a puree of a small fish (garus—a fish that is yet unclassified). The entire fish was spiced, pounded, fermented, salted, strained, and bottled for future use.(*3) Some of the finest examples of this were made of the livers of fish only. The following recipe is cited in A Taste of Ancient Rome by Ilaria Gozzini Giacosa:

Giacosa uses liquamen interchangeably with garum and muria. In her recipes, she lists garum in the translated recipe where either one of these names appears in the original Latin text or not. In fact, when browsing the original texts, I noticed liquamen much more frequently than garum

Garum was expensive yet highly prized in Rome, especially for its medicinal purposes. However, because of the strange nature in which it is produced it received scorn from both medieval scholars who had translated Apicius and modern examiners. Vehling comments, "interpreters who could not comprehend the ‘perverse taste’ of the ancients in placing any value on the ‘essence from putrefied intestines of fish’."

For my purposes, I chose to interpret liquamen as a broth made of food material since this would include garum in that definition. In order to avoid food allergies, I’ve decided to use soy sauce for this feast—the high salt content of this "vegetable" sauce seems to match interpretations of garum and liquamen without the risk that fish allergies can bring. While it does compromise the authenticity, there was less risk of food being wasted because it didn’t fit the modern palate. Though, if we can so presume from Vehling’s testimony, it didn’t really fit the medieval palate either. This opinion is much argued by scholars.

Silphium: This was a very common herb (sometimes called laser) that was used so much that it disappeared in the first century A.D. It was replaced by asa foetida, an extract from the fennel plant that is still used in Indian cuisine today. Since it may be hard to locate, some recommended using garlic juice instead as the flavors are said to be somewhat similar. For this reason, I added garlic juice to the Asparagus and Figpecker Patina as it was lacking some flavor and the addition seemed fitting with Roman Tastes.

Muria: A type of salt-water brine though it may be considered to be the liquid from any pickled food.

Must and Sapa: Must is a new wine—generally grape wine. When must is reduced it becomes sapa. Sapa is one of the main ingredients in savor—a sauce that includes fruit and a bit of squash pulp. Sapa was also poured over a cup of snow in the winter and eaten as flavored ice.(*4)

While one or more of the above flavorings appears in almost every known recipe in Roman cooking, they were used sparingly. Spices and condiments were highly prized and ridiculously expensive since many of them were imported from Africa and Asia. They all possessed strong and unique flavors that could affect a dish even when used frugally. There even existed sumptuary laws controlling their use. The use of spices in the ancient and medieval world is much debated. Many interpret a wide array of spices to mean that foods were heavily spiced, especially considering that no measurements were given. When we look at modern recipes, we see that even in dishes that have an assortment of flavors the quantities remain low—is it unreasonable to assume the same was true of our ancient counterparts? Some ancient medieval texts give "to your taste" as a guideline or offer alternative suggestions. Either way, it is up to the scholar to come to these conclusions through their own research and experimentation.

In almost every culture, grains are a staple because they are filling, inexpensive, have a good shelf life and are very versatile. The Romans were no exception, and as grinding methods improved throughout the era, so too did the quality of the product improve. Indeed, physicians of the Classical World proclaimed that bread was much more nourishing and digestible when made from wheat rather than barley, and that the best sorts of bread were baked in an oven. Athaenaeus describes breads flavored with honey & oil, suet, cheese, poppy seeds and/or herbs. Some breads were soft, salty, and raised or pancake-like. Wafer bread or rolls were baked on a spit. Flavored breads would often be eaten on their own with water, milk, or wine while plainer breads were dipped in wine and milk as a midday snack. The "bread and butter" that is common at modern tables was considered barbaric and they used olive/olive oils more. Butter was used more medicinally.

Bread and pastry became important not only as food, but as a platter or even a scoop to assist while eating. Guests at a dinner party were served on couches placed in a "U" shape around the central table. Each guest would recline at about ¾ length, propped up on their left forearm, and reach for food with the right hand. Since forks were unknown and knives and spoons rarely used, they generally ate with their fingers. It is surmised that the sauces that the Romans loved so much would have to be thicker in order to be convenient for sitting and eating like this. In fact, many sauce recipes do indeed include thickeners.

So what else did they eat? Well below is a sample chart of foods that the Romans may have indulged in:

Ingredients: water, olive oil, salt, bread flour, yeast, garlic, dried rosemary, Kosher salt, grated Parmesan

The recipe I used is taken from The Bread Machine Cook Book by Marjie Lambert. The ingredients can be mixed, raised, and kneaded by hand. Giacosa mentions that "the farmer protagonist of this poem Moretum ate a kind of focaccia" that was prepared with ground, sifted wheat flour that was then mixed with water, aromatic herbs, and salt.(*5) I choose to use this modern recipe, as I know that it works consistently.

Ingredients: white Melba toast, ground black pepper, eggs, Dijon mustard, thyme, chives, firm goat cheese, olive oil

(Recipe is courtesy of Cook’s Illustrated magazine, number 65)

Ingredients: chicken breast, asparagus, eggs, cracked pepper, soy sauce, port wine, olive oil, salt, minced garlic

2lbs. of ground pork

1 tsp. ground pepper

½ tsp. cumin

½ cup of ground pine nuts

2 tbsp. rubbed leaf sage

pinch of summer savory

1 tbsp. parsley

These were mixed together and can be either fed into hog intestine casings or made shaped into patties (think hamburger).

Use the caps from large, firm mushrooms (I used Portabella’s). Grill them and sprinkle with pepper and soy sauce

Olives

Course textured bread (Giacosa says to soak in vinegar and break into pieces. I’m not much for soggy bread so I made croutons and tossed them in vinegar and olive oil before baking)

Salad Greens

Lavender

Olive Oil

Combine and toss

1 4-8lb. lamb—butterflied with fat trimmed and fell removed (butcher’s will usually take care of this upon request).

Enough cracked peppercorns to rub into meat—perhaps a ¼ cup.

2 Tbsp. Olive oil

1 package of dried onion soup mix

water

Rub the lamb with olive oil and black pepper. Shake onion soup mix over lamb and put about an inch of water in pan. Slow roast at 325 degrees until completed.

Old Dominion Pound Cake (Modern Recipe)

Ingredients: flour, sugar, baking soda, butter, lemon juice, vanilla, eggs, salt, cream of tartar.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

[Note: After the completion and compilation of my research, menu, and this booklet, I discovered that version of Apicius that I choose to use was not one of the most reliable. Some, if not all, of the arguments that I based my decisions on may not have been entirely realistic. I was too far ahead in the planning process to start over. It was definitely a lesson in the dangers of using non-primary sources for documentation. I hope that despite the discrepancies on my part, the feast is enjoyable, for that is my most sincere wish above all other things. Thank you for your attention.]