Lecture 9: Dining in Republican and Imperial Rome
different from what ordinary Roman plebeians would be eating. It
is a marker of distinction.Adamson and Segan, eds., Entertaining.
Aelius Lampridius, Life of Heliogabalus.
Apicius, De re Coquinaria.
Bober, Art, Culture, and Cuisine.
Cato, On Farming.
Fass, Around the Roman Table.
Juvenal, Satires.
Martial, Epigrams.
Petronius, Satyricon.Minutal of Apricots
This dish captures the wide range of fl avors that were popular in ancient
Rome—what we might call sweet and sour, though it is actually even more
complex than that. The ingredients aren’t particularly rare or exotic, but the
dish would have been considered very fashionable and elegant. Tracta are
perhaps the ancestor of pasta, a kind of fl at cracker that was crumbled into
stews as a thickener. They are also called laganae, which is etymologically
related to lasagna. Today, you can use plain crackers, crumbled up. For
garum, you can use Southeast Asian fi sh sauce, such as nuoc mam or nam
pla. For the raisin wine, Marsala is okay (or any sweet, fortifi ed wine). To
“temper” means to balance the fl avors and consistency. Obviously, because
there are no measurements, all of the ingredients should be added at
your discretion.Suggested ReadingCulinary Activity