Chapter 3

Cultural Notes: Meals, Food, and Banquets

The mistress of the household ordered and supervised the preparation of meals, and at the meals she reclined like her husband.

Romans got up early, and had a very light breakfast (usually bread and fruit), called the ientaculum.

In the late morning, there was a more substantial lunch (consisting of fish, eggs, vegetables, wine, and water) called the prandium or merenda. (In some Latin households, as you may know if you study Spanish, there is a tradition of taking a short break from work with your family around 3:00 in the afternoon, having a snack, and catching up on the news of the day. This meal is called the merienda.)

The workday was over at midday, and people spent the rest of the day taking a siesta, engaging in exercise and entertainment, and going to the baths (after exercise and before dinner).

Dinner (cena) for the Romans began in the late afternoon, after everyone had visited and returned from the baths, and often continued well into the night. If you went out to dinner you wore your outdoor shoes (called calcei, they had a leather tongue and four thongs) and carried your slippers. It was not proper to wear slippers out of doors (although Trimalchio does) or calcei indoors. If you remember that the streets were sewers, this makes sense.

The cena consisted of three courses:

• the gustatio, or hors-d'oeuvres, consisting of eggs, shellfish, salad, and honeyed wine (mulsum)
• the fercula, or prepared dishes. This part of the meal consisted of an odd number of courses (either 3, 5, or 7), with the chief item in the middle. Typical foods served would be lampreys, turbot, a whole roast boar, roast peacock, or roast veal
• the mensae secundae, or dessert, consisting of pastries, fresh and dried fruit, and more wine

Wine was very cheap; in fact, it was part of a slave's daily ration. It came in four colors: white, red (light and dark), and brown. It had lots of body (the custom was to cut it with water) and was fairly sweet. The best Roman wines were Setine, Caecuban, Falernian, and Alban. The Romans had NO beer, tea, coffee, or distilled beverages.

Nor did the Romans enjoy potatoes, tomatoes, oranges, bananas, strawberries, raspberries, or gooseberries. They sweetened their food with honey instead of sugar, used olive oil instead of butter, and had goat's milk rather than cow's milk.

Porridge was in use before bread and was usually made of barley or oats (which were also used for bread). Bread was baked in square flat loaves, sometimes flavored with honey or cheese. Wheat bread was a luxury.

Many kinds of fish were eaten: sturgeon, turbot, lampreys, mullet, oysters. Poultry, game, and eggs also played a large part in Roman cookery. Ordinary people ate geese, ducks, chickens, pheasants, partridges, quails, and small wild birds. The rich ate peacocks, flamingoes, and cranes. Pork in all its forms was very abundant, and veal was occasionally eaten. Beef, mutton, and lamb were rare (no pun intended).

Food was seasoned with mustard, salt, pepper, vinegar, herbs, and spices.

Ordinary people ate lots of vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Available for their use were beans, peas, lettuce (Cicero recommends cabbage juice for hangovers), carrots, radishes, beets, onions, garlic, apples, pears, mulberries, grapes, figs, peaches, apricots, and cherries.

From time to time, members of rich households gave gargantuan dinners, shocking moralists. Sometimes the party degenerated even further after dinner. Respectable women would not be present at these dinners, and drunken women were looked upon with disapproval.