Food in the Roman Empire reflect the variety of foodstuffs available through the expanded trade networks of the Roman Empire and the traditions from ancient Rome's times, inherited in part from the Greeks and Etruscans. Grains and legumes Most people would have consumed at least 70% of their daily calories in the form of cereals and legumes.Grains included several varieties of wheat.Legumes and cereals were stored in case of famine.Although usually thought of as modest fare, legumes also appear among the dishes at banquets.The basic grain pottage was elaborated with chopped vegetables, bits of meat, cheese or herbs to produce dishes similar to risotto.

Urban populations and the military preferred to consume their grain in the form of bread.The lower classes ate brown bread made from barley. Maintaining a bread oven is labour-intensive and requires space, so apartment dwellers had it baked in a communal oven.Mills and commercial ovens, usually combined in a bakery complex, were considered so vital to Rome that several religious festivals honoured the deities. (Vesta, Ceres) Vegetables and Fruits Because of the importance of landowning in the formation of the Roman cultural elite, Romans idealized farming. Leafy greens and herbs were eaten as salads with vinegar dressings.Cooked vegetables such as beets, leeks, and gourds were prepared with sauces as first courses or served with bread as a simple meal. Cured olives were available in wide variety even to those on a limited budget.

Provinces exported fruit trees that were propagated throughout the empire: the cherry from Pontus (Turkey); peach from Persia. Berries were cultivated or gathered wild.

Meat, dairy and oils

Roman butchers sold fresh pork, beef, and lamb, but the lack of refrigeration required techniques of preservation for meat, fish, and dairy. No portion of the animal was allowed to go to waste, resulting in blood puddings, meatballs, sausages, and stews.Rural people cured ham and bacon. The sausages of Lucania were made from a mixture of ground meats, herbs, and nuts, with eggs as a binding ingredient, and then aged in a smoker. Fresh milk was used in medicinal and cosmetic preparations, or for cooking. The milk of goats or sheep was thought superior to that of cows.Cheese was easier to hold and transport to market. Olive oil was fundamental not only to cooking, but to the Roman way of life, as it was used also in lamps and preparations for bathing.Spain was a major exporter of olive oil, but Romans regarded oil from Italy as the finest.

Seasonings and sweeteners

Salt was the fundamental seasoning: Pliny the Elder remarked that "Civilized life cannot proceed without salt”. It was an important item of trade, but pure salt was relatively expensive. The most common salty condiment was “garum”, the fermented fish sauce.Pepper was so vital to the cuisine that ornamental pots were created to

hold it. Pepper was imported from India.Other imported spices were saffron and cinnamon.Pliny estimated that Romans spent 100 million sesterces a year on spices and perfumes from India, China and Arabia. Sweeteners were limited mostly to honey and wine-must syrup.Cane sugar was an exotic ingredient used as a garnish or flavouring agent, or in medicines.

Agriculture and markets

The central government took an active interest in supporting agriculture.Producing food was the top priority of land use.Larger farms (latifundia) achieved an economy of scale that sustained urban life and its more specialized division of labour.The Empire's transportation network of roads and shipping lines benefitted small farmers by opening up access to local and regional markets in towns and trade centres. In the city of Rome, the Forum Holitorium was an ancient farmers' market, and the VicusTuscus was famous for its fresh produce.Throughout the city, meats, fish, cheeses, olive oil, spices and the garum (fish sauce) were sold at macella, the Roman equivalent of shopping malls.

Grain supply

Maintaining an affordable food supply to the city of Rome had become a major political issue in the late Republic, when the state began to provide a grain dole to unemployed citizens. About 250,000 adult males in Rome received the dole, amounting to about 33 kg. per month. The dole cost at least 15 percent of state revenues,but improved living conditions and family life among the lower classes.The grain dole also had symbolic value: it affirmed both the emperor's position as universal benefactor.The satirist writerJuvenal, however, saw "bread and circuses" (panemetcircenses) as emblematic of the loss of republican political liberty. Menus and recipes

The Latin expression for a full-course dinner was ab ovousque mala, "from the egg to the apples," equivalent to the English "from soup to nuts."A multicourse dinner began with the gustatio ("tasting"), often a salad or other minimally cooked composed dish, with ingredients to promote good digestion. The dinnerwas centred on meat. It concluded with fruits and nuts. Roman literature focuses on the dining habits of the upper classes.The poet Martial describes serving a plausible dinner, beginning with the “gustatio”, which was a composed salad of mallow leaves, lettuce, chopped leeks, mint, fish garnished with eggs and marinated pork. The main course was beans, greens, a chicken, and ham, followed by a dessert of fresh fruit and wine. The favourite dish of the emperor Vitellius was supposed to be the "Shield of Minerva", composed of pikeliver, brains of pheasant and peacock, flamingo tongue, and lamprey milt; the description given by Suetonius emphasizes that these luxury ingredients were brought by the fleet from the far reaches of empire, from the Parthianfrontier to the Straits of Gibraltar. Wine and fermented beverages

Although food shortages were a constant concern, Italian viticulture produced an abundance of cheap wine that was shipped to Rome. Most provinces were capable of producing wine. It was a central item of trade. The major suppliers for the city of Rome were the west coast of Italy, southern Gaul, Tarraco (Hispania) and Crete. In addition to regular consumption with meals, wine was a part of everyday religious observances. Before a meal, alibation was offered to the household gods. When Romans made their regular visits to burial sites to care for the dead, they poured a libation into the grave.Romans drank their wine mixed with water, or in "mixed drinks". Although wine was enjoyed regularly, and the Augustan poet Horace coined the expression "truth in wine" (in vino veritas), drunkenness was frowned upon. It was a Roman stereotype that Gauls had an excessive love of wine. Dining at home

Since restaurants catered to the lower classes, fine dining could be sought only at private dinner parties in well-to-do houses, or at banquets hosted by social clubs. The private home (domus) of an elite family had a kitchen, a kitchen garden, and a trained staff with a chef and kitchen assistants. In upper-class households, the evening meal (cena) had important social functions. Guests were entertained in a finely decorated dining room (triclinium), often with a view of the peristyle garden. Diners lounged on couches, leaning on the left elbow. The ideal number of guests for a dinner party was nine. By the late Republic, women dined, reclined, and drank wine along with men. On at least some occasions, children attended, so they could acquire social skills.Multicourse meals were served by the household slaves, as images of hospitality and luxury.

Cultural values

Refined cuisine could be moralized as a sign of either civilized progress or decadent decline. The Imperial historian Tacitus contrasted the indulgent luxuries of the Roman table in his day with the simplicity of the Germanic diet of fresh wild meat, fruit and cheese. Most often, because of the importance of landowning in Roman culture, produce—cereals, legumes, vegetables, and fruit—was considered a more civilized form of food than meat. "Barbarians" might be stereotyped as ravenous carnivores. For Pliny, the making of pastries was a sign of civilized countries at peace. The Mediterranean food of bread, wine, andoil were sacralised by Roman Christianity, while Germanic meat consumption became a mark of paganism, as it might be the product of animal sacrifice. Some philosophers and Christians resisted the demands of the body and the pleasures of food, and adopted fasting as an ideal. As an urban lifestyle came to be associated with decadence, the Church formally discouraged gluttony,and hunting and pastoralism were seen as simple but virtuous ways of life.