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Please try to imagine. Imagine the most glorious feast, complete with an oversized turkey, two types of stuffing, a holiday ham, all the necessary fixings, and at least six pies and cakes. It all sounds grand until you consider the extravagant production of ancient Roman banquets.
The Roman upper class regularly indulged in lavish, hours-long feasts that displayed their wealth and status in ways that defied our notions of fine dining. “Eating was the supreme act of civilization, a celebration of life,” says Alberto Gioli, a professor of ancient philosophy at the University of Ferrara in Italy.
Ancient Romans enjoyed sweet and salty concoctions. Lagané, a rustic short pasta usually served with chickpeas, was also used to make honey cakes with fresh ricotta he cheese. The Romans also used garum, a spicy and salty fermented fish sauce, as a topping for desserts to add umami to all their dishes. (For context, Garm It has a similar flavor and composition to modern Asian fish sauces, such as Vietnamese nuoc mam and Thai fish sauce. ) This precious condiment is made by fermenting fish flesh, blood and entrails in a container under the Mediterranean sun.
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The Rose of Heliogabalus (1888) by Lawrence Alma-Tadema depicts a heavenly Roman dinner at a banquet.
Game meat such as venison, wild boar, rabbit, and pheasant, and seafood such as raw oysters, shellfish, and lobster are just a few examples. expensive food He appeared regularly at Roman banquets.
Plus, the hosts took their game up a notch by serving sumptuous and exotic dishes like parrot tongue stew and stuffed dormouse. “Dormouse was a delicacy that farmers fattened in pots for months and then sold at the market,” Joli said. “A large number of parrots were killed to obtain enough tongues to make fricassee.”
Giorgio Franchetti, a food historian and researcher of ancient Roman history, has discovered lost recipes from these meals that he shares. “Mealing with Ancient Romans” Written by Christina Conte, “The Old Chef.”organize together dining experience Italy’s ruins give you a taste of what it was like to eat like a Roman aristocrat. These cultural tours also detail the often frowned upon rituals that accompany the meal.
Among the unusual recipes Comte prepared was Salsum Sain Sarso, created by the famous Roman gourmet Marcus Gavius Apicius. It was an “edible joke” made to surprise and fool guests. The fish had a head and a tail, but inside was stuffed with beef liver. Clever sleight of hand combined with shock factor was very important in these competitive exhibitions.
Binge eating for hours on end also requires social behavior that we would consider immoral to accommodate such gluttonous indulgences.
“They had strange eating habits that were inconsistent with modern etiquette, such as eating lying down and vomiting between courses,” Franchetti said.
These practices helped keep the fun going. “Given that banquets were a status symbol and lasted for hours late into the night, it was common to vomit to make room for more food in the stomach. Ancient Romans pursued the pleasures of life. He was a hedonist,” said Gioli, who is also the author of several books on Roman food culture.
In fact, it was customary to leave the table to vomit in a room close to the dining room. Joli said revelers use feathers to tickle the back of the throat, stimulating the urge to regurgitate. To maintain their high social status without having to engage in manual labor, guests simply returned to the banquet hall while slaves cleaned up the mess.
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Engraving of a banquet in the house of Lucius Licinius Lucullus, circa 80 BC
Gaius Petronius Arbiter’s literary masterpiece, Satyricon, captures the typical social dynamics of Roman society in the mid-1st century AD through the character of wealthy Trimalchio, who goes to his slaves to urinate. I told him to bring me a pee pot. In other words, revelers don’t necessarily go to the bathroom when nature calls. Toilets again often came to them by slave labor.
According to Joli, blowing the wind while eating was also considered normal, as it was believed that gas buildup in the intestines could be fatal. Emperor Claudius ruled from AD 41 to AD 54. A proclamation encouraging flatulence It is based on a text written in the Life of Claudius by the Roman historian Suetonius.
Comforts and privileges of wealthy men
Eating while lying on a comfortable, cushioned chaise lounge reduced bloating. The horizontal position was believed to aid digestion and was the ultimate expression of elite status.
“The Romans actually ate lying on their stomachs, so their weight was evenly distributed and they were able to relax. Their left hand held their head up and their right hand rested on a morsel placed on the table. “So they ate with their hands, and the food had to be cut beforehand by the slaves,” Joli said.
Leftover food, meat and fish bones were thrown on the floor by guests. To understand this scene, consider one of her mosaics, found in a Roman villa. at Aquileia, depicting fish and leftover food scattered on the floor. The Romans liked to decorate the floors of banquet halls with such images to camouflage real food scattered on the floor. This trompe l’oeil tactic, or “unswept floor” effect, was a clever mosaic technique.
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This 2nd century AD mosaic depicts an unswept floor after a banquet to hide the actual mess caused by the celebration.
Lying down also allowed banquet attendees to take an occasional snooze or enjoy a quick nap between courses to rest their stomachs.
However, the act of reclining while eating was a privilege reserved only for men. A woman ate at a separate table or knelt or sat beside her husband while he enjoyed his meal.
For example, an ancient Roman fresco depicting a banquet scene in Pompeii’s Casa dei Casti Amanti depicts a reclining man with two kneeling women on either side. One of the women takes care of the man by helping him hold a horn-shaped drinking vessel called a rhyton. Another fresco from Herculaneum is on display. National Archaeological Museum of Naplesdepicts a woman sitting near a reclining man while raising his rhyton.
“The horizontal posture of a man’s meal was a symbol of superiority over women. Roman women established the right to eat alongside their husbands at a much later stage in ancient Roman history. It was the first social conquest and victory over discrimination,” Joli explained.
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Emperor Nero participates in the Bacchanalia, a Roman festival celebrating Bacchus.
The Romans were also very superstitious. According to Mr. Franchetti, anything that falls from the table is from the other world and cannot be retrieved for fear that the dead will come for revenge, and spilling salt is a bad omen. Bread had to be touched only with hands, and eggshells and molluscs had to be broken. When a rooster crowed at an unusual time, a servant was dispatched to catch it, kill it, and immediately serve the dish.
According to Franchetti, feasting was a way to ward off death. The banquet ended with a boozy ceremony during which the diners discussed death and reminded themselves to live life to the fullest and enjoy it. In other words, carpe diem.
In keeping with this worldview, table objects such as salt and pepper shakers are also shaped like skulls. According to Joli, it was customary to invite deceased loved ones to a meal and serve them a plate full of food. Sculptures representing the dead sat at tables with the living.
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Mosaic of a skeleton from the Vestal House in Pompeii holding a jug of wine
Wine was not always drunk straight, but mixed with other ingredients. Water was used to dilute the potency of alcohol and allow revelers to drink more, while seawater was added to preserve wine barrels from far-flung parts of the empire with salt. .
“Even tar was a well-mixed substance in wine, and over time it mixed with alcohol. The Romans could hardly taste its unpleasant flavor,” Joli said.
Perhaps the ultimate symbol of excess, the epicurean Apicius is said to have committed suicide after throwing too lavish banquets and becoming bankrupt. However, he left behind a gastronomic legacy, including the famous Apicius pie, made from a mixture of fish and meats such as chicken entrails and pork breast. It can be a difficult dish to find appealing on today’s modern feast tables.
This article was first published in November 2020.