Interesting article. I have been studying Apicius for the past few months, and I have really fallen in love with ancient Roman food. It seems to have informed both Italian and French cuisine. The combination of flavors often reminds me of Chinese cooking. I may even have to try making some garum. I enjoy Asian fish sauces, and garum is not complicated. They used a lot of medicinal herbs in their dishes, too. SO far, I have found the flavors to be very balanced - savory, sweet, sour, bitter, piquant due to spices, aromatic due to herbs and "umami" from garum. Honestly, I quite like ancient Roman food! I found a few great youtube channels where people recreate the recipes - let me know if you want links. Of course, I love kosher and Greek food, too, as well as those of the several Middle Eastern and North African cuisines I have tried. No doubt though, the roots of much good French and Italian cooking is Roman.
Thank you for sharing your work! I learned quite a bit. I was especially intrigued to learn people primarily ate two meals a day with a snack, which I presume would have been taken wherever they were working?
Thank you so much for this article! It is most informative, enlightening and inspiring. I learned a lot!!!
Interesting article. I have been studying Apicius for the past few months, and I have really fallen in love with ancient Roman food. It seems to have informed both Italian and French cuisine. The combination of flavors often reminds me of Chinese cooking. I may even have to try making some garum. I enjoy Asian fish sauces, and garum is not complicated. They used a lot of medicinal herbs in their dishes, too. SO far, I have found the flavors to be very balanced - savory, sweet, sour, bitter, piquant due to spices, aromatic due to herbs and "umami" from garum. Honestly, I quite like ancient Roman food! I found a few great youtube channels where people recreate the recipes - let me know if you want links. Of course, I love kosher and Greek food, too, as well as those of the several Middle Eastern and North African cuisines I have tried. No doubt though, the roots of much good French and Italian cooking is Roman.
Thank you for sharing your work! I learned quite a bit. I was especially intrigued to learn people primarily ate two meals a day with a snack, which I presume would have been taken wherever they were working?