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Curiosities of ancient Rome (Food)

Food is a collection of interesting facts about the diet, foods, and culinary customs of ancient Rome. This category includes lesser-known facts and interesting information about Roman dishes, ingredients, meal organization, and dietary differences between the different social classes of the Roman Empire.

Trojan pig – Roman dish

Information about a luxurious Roman dish – the so-called The “Trojan pig” comes from the 5th century and we owe it to the scientist Macrobius. Macrobius himself describes the meaning of the dish as follows: “made pregnant with other animals and enclosed within as the Trojan horse was made pregnant with armed men”.

Pig with porcini on a Roman mosaic. It is located in the Vatican Museums in Rome

How did ancient Romans eat their meals?

Ancient Romans consuming soup mainly used spoons made of bronze, animal bones or wood. Richer Romans used silver cutlery. The so-called ligula a small dessert spoon. There was another type, for example, coclear – a spoon with a sharp tip for pulling snails out of the shell or eating an egg. What else was used to eat? How did ancient Romans eat their meals?

Roman feast

Cumin in ancient times

Ancient Rome used a range of overseas spices such as black pepper, long pepper, ginger, cardamom and cinnamon. However, the most frequently used raw materials, both in cooking and in medicine, that were grown locally – coriander, mint and Roman cumin. The last of them was used both as an ingredient of dishes, a cosmetic raw material and a ritual plant. Where was this spice traded? What diseases were treated with it? Answer in the article below.

Fresco from Pompeii showing feast