[Sca-cooks] "What Did the Romans Eat?"

[Terry Decker]

Accurate enough as far as it goes.  More problematic to me is the use of 
"corn" apparently as a specific grain (maize, presumably, although in this 
context it could be the general being attached to the most common specific, 
either barley or emmer).

According to Curtis (Curtis, Robert I., Garum and Salsamenta; E.J.Brill, 
Leiden, 1991.), Roman fish sauces come in four forms; garum, allec, liquamen 
and muria.  Garum is the liquid decanted from a couple of months of salted, 
fermenting fish.  Allec is the residue left after the garum is removed. 
Liquamen seems to be a sauce leeched from fermenting fish (apparently 
similar to modern fish sauces like Worchestershire).  And muria is a 
somewhat broadly defined term to refer to salt solutions extracted from or 
used to preserve meats, fruits and vegetables.  All of these sauces were 
used and made around the entire Mediterranean, up into the Black Sea and far 
south down the Nile.

Bear


Anybody know how accurate this is?  It does mention garum (et al), and while 
not *too* disparaging (it says they are nutritious), it does refer to allec 
as "sludge."

http://madefrom.com/history/antiquity/roman-diet/

Sandra