Food: A Cultural Culinary History

Lecture 9: Dining in Republican and Imperial Rome

the safest investment was in land, and Cato’s manual describes how

to plant vineyards, olive groves, and fruit trees and how to grow

crops that could easily be transported to cities for profi t. However,

the foods are simple, uncomplicated staples.

 The few recipes he offers are for sacrifi cial cakes. One in particular

is called placenta, which comes from the Greek word plakounta,

which just means a fl at cake. Cato’s placenta is essentially sheets of

dough layered with fresh cheese and soaked in honey.

 Rich and poor in the Republican period ate basically the same

frugal diet. They had an inordinate fondness for cabbage as food

and medicine. For the early Romans, food was basically just fuel.

No particular foods were associated with social class, and there

were few luxuries by which people could fl aunt their wealth.

Social Climbers and the Old Elite of Imperial Rome

 As the Roman Empire expanded, and especially after conquering

Greece and much of the eastern Mediterranean, these simple

people came in contact with cultures not only much older and more

sophisticated, but also much wealthier. These older cultures had

also been long addicted to luxuries and spices imported from Asia.

 For the fi rst time, the Romans were connected to ancient trade

routes that brought them pepper and cinnamon from India and even

products from the Far East like citron, ginger, and cloves. Because

these were expensive imports, they were excellent markers of social

status—only the wealthiest people could afford them. However, in

the minds of many Romans, contact with the East had made this

once-fi erce people soft.

 Naturally, as Rome grew, its administration expanded, its cities

swelled to enormous proportions, and most importantly, its armies

teemed with fresh recruits to protect the borders of the vast empire.

Huge plantations, or latifundia, worked by slave labor, provided the

wheat, which was milled on a massive scale. It was eaten in the form

of risen bread, which was doled out by the state as a form of welfare.