Ancient Romans ate meals most Americans would recognize.
(Inside Science) -- Let's pretend it is 56 B.C. and you have been fortunate enough to be invited to a party at the home of Lucius Calpurnius Piso Caesoninus, a great social coup. Piso, after all, was Julius Caesar's father-in-law and a consul of Rome.
What's for dinner?
You need to prepare for pig. Archaeologists studying the eating habits of ancient Etruscans and Romans have found that pork was the staple of Italian cuisine before and during the Roman Empire. Both the poor and the rich ate pig as the meat of choice, although the rich, like Piso, got better cuts, ate meat more often and likely in larger quantities.
They had pork chops and a form of bacon. They even served sausages and prosciutto; in other words, a meal not unlike what you'd find in Rome today -- or in South Philadelphia.
Read the rest at: http://www.insidescience.org/content/dinner-pisos/2536
pipoman
(16,038 posts)Around 2000 years ago. Charcuterie has experienced a revival in recent years.
DavidDvorkin
(19,485 posts)Although at the end, it says that the vomitorium really was a room in a Roman house were people could throw up their food in order to be able to eat more. I've read that that's a myth.
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)with the word 'vomitorium' which sounds like it would be a room to do that in:
See: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2421/were-there-really-vomitoriums-in-ancient-rome
Nitram
(22,869 posts)Vomitorium was just Roman for an entrance into a large public venue. Interesting how ideas that sound logical are often so far from reality.
Vic Tree
(90 posts)Just sayin'
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)cprise
(8,445 posts)and other environmental toxins that make people crazy and stupid.