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PoliticAverse

(26,366 posts)
Sat Feb 7, 2015, 01:45 PM Feb 2015

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

7 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Ancient Romans ate meals most Americans would recognize. (Original Post) PoliticAverse Feb 2015 OP
it is believed that charcuterie originated in Northern Italy pipoman Feb 2015 #1
Interesting article DavidDvorkin Feb 2015 #2
I think there's confusion with the fact that they used to vomit to be able to eat more... PoliticAverse Feb 2015 #3
Yes, Averse, we all unfortunately grew up with that mistaken idea. Nitram Feb 2015 #4
Ancient Rome COLLAPSED Vic Tree Feb 2015 #5
I think that's been attributed to the water not the food... PoliticAverse Feb 2015 #6
We're still recovering from our own reckless use of lead cprise Feb 2015 #7
 

pipoman

(16,038 posts)
1. it is believed that charcuterie originated in Northern Italy
Sat Feb 7, 2015, 02:08 PM
Feb 2015

Around 2000 years ago. Charcuterie has experienced a revival in recent years.

DavidDvorkin

(19,485 posts)
2. Interesting article
Sat Feb 7, 2015, 03:09 PM
Feb 2015

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)
3. I think there's confusion with the fact that they used to vomit to be able to eat more...
Sat Feb 7, 2015, 03:48 PM
Feb 2015

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)
4. Yes, Averse, we all unfortunately grew up with that mistaken idea.
Sat Feb 7, 2015, 07:14 PM
Feb 2015

Vomitorium was just Roman for an entrance into a large public venue. Interesting how ideas that sound logical are often so far from reality.

cprise

(8,445 posts)
7. We're still recovering from our own reckless use of lead
Sun Feb 8, 2015, 10:06 AM
Feb 2015

and other environmental toxins that make people crazy and stupid.

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