Food and Banquets

Food and BanquetsMeals

Pompeii prices Bread 6Cabbage 2Beetroot 1Mustard 1Mint 1Salt 1

Snack bar150+?

Banquet (Convivium)

After the Baths

Fishing for an InvitationWhether you are in the hot room or anywhere else in the bath building, there is no way to escape from Menogenes, although you may try with all your might. When you pick up your towel which is dirtier than a childs bib, he will exclaim that it is whiter than snow. While you are combing your thin hair he will say that you are styling Achilles locks. He will praise everything, he will marvel at everything, until finally ,having endured his thousand tedious ploys, you say, Come and have dinner with me. ( Martial, Epigrams 12.83)Banquet (Convivium)Arrive after sunsetWear evening dress ( bring changes of clothing)Enter on the right footHands and feet are washedBanquet (Convivium)1. Aperitifs2. Hors douevres3. First main course4. Second main course ( Dessert)5. Aphoretae (gifts)6. Commisatio ( drinking party)Triclinium

Couch Placement StatusLocus consularis (Medius 1) Host (Imus 1)

House of the Tricliniumumbra

StaffNomenclatorMinistratores

Knives and NapkinsUmbra (additional guests)

Conversational TopicsWhy is A the first letter of the alphabet?Which came first the chicken or the egg?Why does drink satisfy hunger, while food makes one thirsty?Why is a priest of Jupiter forbidden to eat raw meat? Did Alexander the Great drink too much?Pentheus room ( House of the Vettii)

Larva convivialis

Food warmer

LeftoversYou rifle through every dish thats served: sows teats, pigs ear, enough woodcock for two, half a mullet and an entire pike, fillet of moray eel, a pullet thigh, a dove dripping with sauce. When it is all wrapped well between the corners of an oil-soaked napkin you pass it to your servant who carries it home; while we remain seated there and can do nothing. Give us back our meal, if you have even the slightest shame. I did not invite you for tomorrow, Caecilianus. ( Marial 2, 37).Food and Cooking

Sources of InfoAncient authorsArchaeological remainsModern Parallels

Meat

XENIA

Sausage

House of the VestalsVII, 2, 16Bones yielded from excavation ( 250 out of 1500 identifiable) 33%= pig10%=sheep/goats2%=cow(12 chicken bones)Seafood

Vegetables

Fruit

Dormouse

Seasoning Sauces--GarumDefrutumSpices---Cumin, pepper, lovageThickeners--Eggs, bread, riceNutsApicius ( 1st c. CE)

Sample menuAperitif Spiced wine

Hors douevreshard-boiled eggs with garum sauce; Lettuce patina ( lettuce ground and cooked with garum, defrutum olive oil and eggs)First main course game hen with sweet and sour sauce ( pepper, cumin, olive oil, garlic, vinegar, garum honey)Second main coursePear patina ( pureed pears with pepper, cumin, honey, defrutum, garum, olive oil, and eggs) sprinkled with pepperDesertFresh fruit, wineEgg Sponge with milk

Egg Sponge with MilkThoroughly mix four eggs, 1.5 cups milk, and 1 oz. Olive oil. Put a little oil into a pan and heat until hot. Pour in egg mixture. When cooked on one side turn into a serving dish. Pour honey over, sprinkle with pepper and serve. (Archeology Magazine Nov/Dec 1990)Cena Trimalchionis by PetroniusPetronius Satyricon Cena Trimalchionis19,000 sestercesRoast dormice in honey and poppy-seed. Sausage on plum and pomegranate seed, Figpecker in peppered mayonnaise, black and green olives Peas, beef kidneys and rams testicles, barren sows womb, fig, scorpion fish, goose, magpie, cake and muffin, poultry, sows udder, roast hair, small fish bread, pork stuffed with

Modern Sources for Roman Cooking and Recipes

1. A Taste of Ancient Rome, by Ilaria Gozzini Giacosa, University of Chicago Press, 19942. Around the Roman Table, by Patrick Faas, University of Chicago Press, 1994.