Transcript Ancient Roman Dining

Ancient
Roman
Dining
The Roman Meals
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Ientaculum
(breakfast)
A common Roman breakfast included bread
or biscuits with honey, and date or olives
along with wine or water.
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Prandium
(lunch)
Prandium, Roman lunch, was very similar to
ientaculum, consisting of bread and leftovers
from the day before. Some Romans didn’t
eat lunch and waited until the main meal of
the day: the cena.
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Cena
(dinner – main meal)
The cena was the main course of the day in
ancient Rome. In early Roman years, the
cena was simple and consisted if wheat
(porridge), vegetables, and animals only
after they had been used for sacrifice. Later
on, meats became more common on the
table and meals became more elaborate.
What’s on the menu?
Click the blue to learn more
• Wheat and bread
– libae : smaller rolls
– panis primus : cheap, coarse
grain bread
– picenian bread: fine biscuits
– siligineus : white bread
• Meats
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Boar
Lamb
Hare
Snails
Catfish
Shark
Chicken
Crane
Flamingos
• Common fruits and
vegetables
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Apples
Figs
Grapes
Quinces
Asparagus
Lentils
Peas
Turnips
Pomegranates
Menu Cont. 
What’s on the menu?
• Sauces
– defrutum: concentrated wine that was used for cooking
– liquamen (garum): made from salted fish and fish insides
• Spices
– Pepper
– Salt
• Drinks
– calda: warm water and wine fused with spices
– mulsum: wine with honey
– posca: vinegar diluted with enough water to make it
drinkable
– Wine: wine diluted with water
What was NOT on the menu:
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Tea
Coffee
Oranges
Chili Pepper
Chocolate
Corn
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Peanuts
Potatoes
Rice
Sugar
Tomatoes
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Flamingo tongues
Yes, the Romans did include flamingo
in their main course menu! Flamingo
tongues were considered a luxury food in
ancient Rome. Flamingo feathers were
often used as decoration as well due to
their unique pink color.
If you think that this
is weird, parrot brains
were also a luxury
food just as common
as flamingo tongues.
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Snails
Rome is known to have eaten snails on a rather large scale.
Romans actually harvested snails specifically so that there
would be an abundance of them for their meals.
Snails were always considered
a delicacy. After capturing snails
from where they were harvested,
slaves would care for them in a jar
by feeding them milk and wheat
until they were too fat to fit in their
shells, and then they were fried in
oil and served with garum.
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Quinces
Quinces are fruits from the Middle East that
became quickly popular in Ancient Rome. Parts of the
Roman empire made jams and fruit paste with them.
They were commonly eaten frozen or cooked
because they were
citrusy like a lemon.
Women in ancient
Rome were said to
take a bite of a quince
before their first kiss
with their husbands
for fresh breath.
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Figs
Figs were a very common fruit in ancient times.
Often figs were associated with magic and Greek
and Roman medicine. They have been known
to benefit the digestive
system and have a great
nutritional value. Greeks
stated that they were
“the most useful of all the
fruits which grow on
trees.” Even the Egyptians
would bury figs with the
dead to honor them!
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Pomegranates
Pomegranates were very popular in
ancient times, and they were even mentioned
in the Bible, the Karan, and the Odyssey.
According to both Roman and Greek
mythology, Proserpine was condemned to the
underworld
Because she ate a
pomegranate seed, but this
didn’t stop the Romans from
including this fruit in their
meals and also in their medicine.
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Dinner Parties in Ancient Rome
Dinner parties in Ancient Rome were usually
thrown by the wealthy with the purpose of showing
off their wealth to friends. Extravagant dishes and
foods were served to impress guests. A specific
seating arrangement was an important part of a
dinner party. Also, entertainment was almost always
included to further impress guests and show off
wealth.
Phase of the Party
Latin Name
Menu
Etc.
Hors d’oeuvres
gustatio or
promulsio
Salads, radishes,
oysters
This part of the dinner party
would be followed by the
drinking of mulsum
Main Course
prima mensa
Fish, shellfish,
poultry, meats, and
vegetables
Offering to the
household gods
__________
none
This was a short silence, while
offering wheat, salt, and wine
was given to the household
gods on the family altar
Dessert
secunda mensa
Every kid of honey
cake and fruit
Two common desserts
favored by romans were
stuffed dates and honeyed
bread.
After dinner
drinking and
entertainment
comissatio
Wine diluted with
water
This is the part of the dinner
party that included
entertainment.
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Entertainment
There wasn’t a dull
moment during a dinner party.
Throughout the evening, the
guests and hosts were in
constant conversation. After the
meals, entertainment began and
wine was served. Often a poet
would come to recite poetry and
literature. Acrobats would
perform as well as musicians,
dancers, and singers. Some
parties even had dwarves to
entertain guests!
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UTENSILS
• Romans used many utensils when eating and preparing
meals, including:
• Bronze frying pans with a small lip used for pouring
• Rectangular iron trays for cooking
• Patellae or patinae: shallow trays used for hot dishes when
being placed on the table
• Iron knives with bone, wood or bronze handles
• Bronze, silver, or bone spoons
• Ladles, dippers, strainers and choppers
• Mortaria: stout pottery bowls used for grinding and
pounding (made with a sprinkling of grit baked into the clay
to form a rough surface)
• Discus: a large plate which food was served on
• Most meals were eaten with the fingers
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Culina
the kitchen
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Embers from the oven were kept below these
containers to use them to create a stove top oven.
They could hold food inside them to keep food
warm while other foods were in the oven.
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Romans used the oven to cook many parts of the
meal. These ovens were made from bricks and
clay often showing gods/goddesses, baked
goods, or mythic scenes. Some ovens had little
shelves for a place to hold a household god.
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This little wooden seat has two main purposes: a trashcan and
if necessary, a toilet. It drains all trash and waste into the
sewage pipe. The sponge is cleaned between applications by
immersing it in a bucket of water, which is emptied every day.
This was a luxury usually only found
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Just like present day kitchens, the Romans
used hooks to store utensils, pots, and pans
in the culina for easy access. Often a shelf
or two would be right above these hooks to
store more containers and utensils.
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Bread was the most eaten food in Rome,
sometimes eaten with honey or cheese.
The bread was usually circular in shape
and flat. The bread didn’t take too long to
make, and was served with each meal.
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The End
(Don’t forget to put your leftovers in your napkin to take home)