Ancient Roman Pop Up Restaurant
Our Pop-up Restaurants bring the rich and diverse flavours of the world to Stroud. From Hungary to India, we’re celebrating delicious food from different cultures. This week we're heading to Ancient Rome...
Starter:
Savoury cheesecake (On Agriculture 75)
This is a form of baked feta cheesecake, served warm. Taken from Cato the Elder's treatise (Cato was born 234 BCE, died 149 BCE) On agri cultura literally 'On Agriculture' or 'On Farming', it is the oldest surviving work of latin prose and was a kind of farmers notebook with recipes included.
Olive Relish (On Agriculture 119)
Olives marinated with fennel, coriander and mint. Also taken from Cato the Elder and dates to about 200 BCE, but olives had been cultivated in the Ancient World for about 1000 years, if not longer, and were already being cultivated when the Iliad and Odyssey were written down in the 8th BCE - olives and relishes are mentioned in both these books.
Einkorn Bread (served sliced)
The ancient grain Einkorn is as old as man itself, it was one of the first plants to be domesticated, with evidence of it's domestication as early as 7500 BCE in the Tigris-Euphrates region (now modern day Turkey). It played a crucial role in the development of agriculture and although not strictly Roman or Greek it represents a very early stage in the development of farming.
Main Course:
Minutal Matianum or Pork with Apple (Apicius 4,3,4)
A recipe of belly pork roasted in honey, cooled, diced and then cooked in a sauce of wine, leeks, herbs, apples and beef meatballs.
Thought to originate from Hadrian's Wall it includes ingredients known to have come with the Roman's to Britain after their invasion in the 1st CE, foods like leeks, wine, celery, coriander, olive oil and their famous 'garum' - fish sauce. It is one of the many recipes to be found in Apicius 'De re Culiniria' (On the Subject of Cooking) which is thought to be written by a number of Roman authors in the 1st century CE.
Cabbage the Athenian Way (Oribasius, Medical Collections, 4,4,1)
Cabbage tossed in coriander, mint, asafoetida and honey vinegar.
This recipe is popular with Ancient Greek and Roman writers. A 4th CE doctor, Oribasius, borrowed this recipe from an older book of dietary advice by Mnesitheus of the 4th BCE, it is believed go cure headaches, was good for stomach upsets and, according to Cato (c.239-149 BCE) was also recommended for stiff joints.
Wild Rice
We do have Roman recipes with rice in them so we can assume they also served it just as a side dish, obviously as an alternative to our potatoes which didn't arrive in Britain until the 16th century CE.
Roasted Squash with Lentil Pottage (Apicius 5.2.3)
Half a roasted squash served with lentils cooked with leeks, honey, mint, coriander and asafoetida.
Although squash didn't arrive in Britain until after 16th century CE it's a tastier alternative to gourds, which the Roman's would have roasted and served as a side dish with a stuffing. There was no conception of 'Vegetarian' in the ancient world so this is a nice combination of two dishes we know that they ate.
