Text|Editor: Rijin
We often hear delicious and sometimes bizarre food from ancient Rome. The empire did have a wide variety of unusual dishes and was known for its culinary experiments.
Roman cuisine has no real borders, and while some dishes are relatively well-known and can still be eaten today, others are surprising and might be considered strange by modern people.
Today I will take you to start from the diet of ancient Roman people, list and analyze some strange ancient Roman ingredients and recipes, and explore the reasons why ancient Roman people ate these strange "ingredients".
Strange ancient Roman ingredients
In ancient Rome, some expensive, rare or exotic foods were considered luxuries, such as African elephants, whales, leopards, peacocks, eland, etc. On the other hand, some foods that are generally considered low-quality or undesirable, such as flamingo tongues, dormouse, jellyfish, etc., are also eaten as a delicacy.
1. Flamingo tongue
The flamingo tongue is considered a very popular food, and it was also one of the widely eaten delicacies in ancient Rome, and it could be cooked and served to the tables of the Romans.
The flamingo tongue was considered delicious and medicinal in ancient Rome and was said to cure some ailments. It is said that not only is it very delicious, but the luxury and delicacy of this dish makes the upper-class Romans love it.
The bird itself is considered a symbol of the wealth of its owner, and sacrificing a bird in the name of God is also a very peculiar gesture. The flamingo's tongue has been described as having a "particularly good taste", although it's not just this part of flamingos that is popular.
Other parts of flamingos are also considered delicious, so there are recipes for preparing whole birds for banquets.
2. Dormouse
It may be a strange idea for modern people to eat a dormouse, which seemed to be an ordinary rodent in modern times, but was a common food in ancient Rome.
The ancient Romans used dormouse to make meatballs and soups, and even roasted it into snacks. The fattest and heaviest of these small animals are considered a pleasure, so they are usually fattened before being eaten.
A dormouse is usually served for dinner, showing guests how heavy it is and symbolizing the wealth of the owner. Dormouse is often filled with other meats and dipped in honey, which adds flavor and makes them look more extravagant when wealthy Romans held banquets.
3. Jellyfish
Jellyfish is a marine organism that modern humans do not usually eat as food. But in ancient Rome, jellyfish were used to make a salad.
The main ingredient in this salad is jellyfish, plus some spices and other vegetables. Although modern people may find this salad strange, in ancient Roman times it was considered a delicious delicacy.
This is also mentioned in the Roman writings of Apichus, the finest collection of ancient Roman recipes in existence; It even mentions jellyfish omelets as an appetizer.
Like other delicious foods, jellyfish won't be something you'll eat regularly in Rome, most likely, it will be at the banquets of the rich.
4. Carrion
The ancient Romans did not reject carrion, on the contrary, they believed that carrion had a special taste and taste. They will leave the meat for days or weeks until the meat starts to spoil, and then cook it with spices and seasonings.
This practice can make the meat more tender and the flavor more intense.
5. Ostrich
Another food that was considered characteristic and delicious in ancient Rome was ostrich meat.
These birds and giraffes are sometimes bought to be used in impressive arenas, although the public considers them rather ridiculous. Emperor Commodus was famous for shooting off the head of an ostrich with an arrow and was often ridiculed. However, the Romans were very fond of putting ostriches on their tables, and regardless of how they looked, the birds were considered exotic and delicious.
The aforementioned book of Appichus, which provides recipes for ostriches and advice on how to eat them, mentions sauces, a mixture of spices, herbs and honey that, in the opinion of the Romans, were perfect for the flesh of birds.
6. Milk-fed snails
Fattening snails and then frying them sounds like something the French would do — or someone who loves to play with food would do. The Romans loved a strange diet, so this apichus specialty was prepared for the ancients.
The Romans ripped the snails off the membrane, soaked them in milk for days until they were engorged, and then fried them in oil and wine sauce.
The Romans even had a special breeding ground for snails - horseradish. Wealthy Romans would eat this dish in a restaurant with a casual sofa where there was a high demand for conversation, Mediterranean food and revelry.
7. Giraffe meat
In Roman times, giraffes were considered very exotic animals.
Some emperors even thought it was a good idea to use them in competitions, to fight lions or fight each other, although other members of Roman society would object. For them, the giraffe is a strange and helpless animal with a peaceful nature.
Even without knowing whether these unique animals were consumed every day in Rome, we can clearly say that such incidents have occurred.
8. Sea urchins
Another interesting ingredient in ancient Roman cuisine was sea urchin. The prosperous Romans mostly ate this unusual seafood. However, later discoveries showed that it could also be served to the lower classes in restaurants along with other seafood such as oysters, snails, and even sea scorpions.
Remains of sea urchins in cooking have been found in archaeological work, as well as other popular foods of the time, such as walnuts and cereals. While eating sea urchins may sound strange, seafood was highly praised and loved in Roman times, so there's nothing special about them taking their place in ancient Roman cuisine.
There are many ways to prepare sea urchins. Most methods involve boiling them in a mixture of olive oil, mulled wine, and pepper.
9. Garum
Garum was a sauce that was very popular in ancient Rome and was usually added to almost all foods. Garum is made from fish intestines and blood, and the way it was made would probably shock most modern people.
After being taken from fishermen, the ingredients are dipped in salt, placed in a special container (pictured above) for several weeks, and then placed in the sun. This leads to the fermentation of this substance. Later, the upper layer of the mixture was removed, and this is Garum. Later, herbs and spices can be added to the sauce.
The variety of fish used to make Garum sauce is very diverse, as are the spices, but this unique sauce is considered one of the most popular foods in ancient Rome. This sauce is known to not only taste good, but also nutritious and rich in vitamins.
Strange recipe
The ancient Romans were rich in ingredients and would use all kinds of natural resources to make food. In addition to some of the peculiar ingredients mentioned above, some of their ancient Roman recipes are also very strange.
1. Fish balls with wine sauce
Looking at the name, are you already salivating over the name of this dish?
But what you absolutely didn't expect was that this "fish ball" turned out to be made of pufferfish?! Dried slices of salted puffer fish (called dolphins by Pliny the Elder) are boneless, washed, chopped and seasoned with a range of modern and ancient spices.
Parsley, pepper, cumin, coriander, and dried mint are placed in the fish mixture along with lovastatin (similar to celery and parsley) and oregano (Middle Eastern oregano). This mixture is made into balls and boiled in wine, broth and oil.
According to insiders, the Romans added spices to their fish dishes to mask the smell and taste of the meat. Fish were often shipped from Pontus (or Turkey) to Rome, there was no refrigerator, and there was always smelly fish on the menu.
2. Boiled ostrich
The wealthy Romans loved their exotic meats, and boiled ostrich was a favorite of the nobility's tongue. Bring the mint, pepper, cumin, leeks, honey, vinegar, wine and broth to a boil. Add the ostrich meat "into convenient pieces" to the liquid and season with garlic.
Because ostriches were not native, the Romans had to import them from their vast provinces.
Apiseus lived between 80 BC and 40 AD, when the Roman Empire stretched from Spain to North Africa all the way to the Persian border – they had enough land to catch exotic beasts.
3. Brain and bacon chowder
Ancient meat lovers must have salivated over this recipe. Place a steaming ball of calf or pig brains ("peeled and nerve-free"), hard-boiled eggs, and chicken chops in a saucepan. The thickener is mixed with typical spices and heated by adding bacon in the middle.
None of the instructions in the recipe are given as to how long or what kind of brain pulp will take to cook – the last instruction is "stir quickly with a rue whip".
4. Smell the pie
Also known as custard, this dish is basically an anchovie casserole. The cooked anchovies are garnished with crushed pepper and added with rue, broth, oil and raw eggs, thus forming "a solid lump". Heat this appetizing mixture with sea nettles and sprinkle pepper on top.
As far as I know, this dish should be like solidified mucus. "No one can tell what he is enjoying," Appichus wrote, was the main requirement of any delicious meal.
5. Fill the pumpkin with fritters
This complicated recipe reminds me of the Indian dish Samosas, except that the casing is pumpkin instead of puff pastry. The pumpkin is cut into rectangles and hollowed out so that it can be filled later. The filling is a mixture of pepper, minced brain pulp, raw eggs, and broth ("on paramount needs").
This plasticine is stuffed in two pumpkin chunks, which are skewered together and fried in a wine sauce. Then cover the pumpkin with rue, raisin wine and pepper.
Cucumbers can be used instead of pumpkins and pre-breaded. Strange as it sounds, most Roman citizens did not eat so extravagantly.
Poor civilians or the middle class live on simple grains, meat and cheese. However, when this cookbook was edited, the Romans were "heavily armed" and went around conquering the barbarians and bringing home the loot.
epilogue
The gastronomic culture of the ancient Romans was very colorful, not only with some strange foods and unique drinks, but also with many exquisite delicacies and desserts.
The ancient Romans loved to experiment with novel foods and cooking techniques, focusing on the quality and taste of food, while also viewing cooking and banqueting as an artistic and social event. These habits and foods reflect the characteristics of ancient Roman culture and history, and also provide a window into ancient culture for modern people.
bibliography
[1] Social and economic history of the Roman Empire[M]. Rostovtzeff, M., by Rostovtzeff. Commercial Press.2009
[2] History of Tacitus[M]. (Ancient Rome) Tacitus, by Commercial Press.2009
[3] History of Rome[M]. (Ancient Rome) Appian, by Appian. Commercial Press.2009
[4] The pleasure of the ancient Romans[M]. (fr) by Jean-Noel Robert; WANG Changming,TIAN He,LI Chengxiang. Guangxi Normal University Press.2005
[5] The Lost Civilization: Ancient Rome[M]. GUO Changgang. East China Normal University Press.2001
[6] History of weathering in ancient Rome[M]. (de) by Otto Kiefer; Translated by JIANG Ruizhang. Liaoning Education Press.2000