Victus; Cibus
Generic terms for food. Both the Greeks and the Romans gave much attention to gastronomy,
the latter people, however, getting their knowledge of scientific cookery from the former. The
chief sources of our information are, apart from the many causal allusions in the classic
writers in general, Athenaeus (whose
Deipnosophistae is full of curious lore
regarding food, cookery, and the
ana of distinguished epicures), Pliny
the Elder, and the pseudo-Apicius. (See
Apicius;
Athenaeus;
Plinius.) As early as the second century B.C. there existed special dictionaries of
terms employed in cookery. See
Lexicon.
The articles of diet found in the ancient
menus include most of the
things that are eaten in modern times—the fish, flesh, and fowl at any rate. Of the
fish, the mullet (
mullus), turbot (
rhombus), and
carp (
cyprinus) were especially prized. A sort of fish-sauce (
garum), resembling anchovy-sauce or perhaps caviare, was also held in high
esteem by gourmets. Oysters were dear in price and greatly liked, the best natives coming from
Circeii. British oysters were imported from Rutupiae (Richborough), on the southern coast of
Britain. Of meats, pork was held to be a dainty, whether as ham (
perna）
or in the form of
glandulae, over which the parasite in the
Captivi of Plautus grows so enthusiastic, or potted in the
tucetum (q. v.). The breasts of a sow killed just after she had littered, but before
she had given suck, were much sought, and the matrix (
vulva) of the same
animal, stuffed with onions, is often spoken of as extremely delectable. Sausages (
botuli) were popular, but less the diet of the wealthy than of the poor,
being hawked about the streets by itinerant venders. Beef and lamb were not very highly
esteemed; nor was chicken a great dainty, capons excepted. Thrushes (
turdi), pheasants (
phasiani), fig-peckers (
ficedulae), larks (
alaudae), guinea-hens (
meleagrides), and many other birds were sought as food. As in Italy and Southern France
to-day, snails formed an esteemed article of diet. They were fattened on meal especially for
the market, and sometimes attained to a huge size. The Romans served up dormice (
glires) at expensive banquets. Maecenas introduced at Rome the flesh of
young asses as a fashionable dish. The common people ate comparatively little meat, but made
bread, fruit, salad, and the national dish
puls (see
Puls) their principal fare. Tripe (
omentum) was also
an especially plebeian dish. Oil was liberally used in the various dishes, as in Italy to-day.
(See
Oliva.) The most frequently mentioned condiments
were salt (
sal), pepper (
piper), garlic (
allium), leek (
porrum), mustard (
sinapis), and poppy-seeds. Asafoetida (
silphium) was also used as
a seasoning, its flavour being not unlike that of garlic. On vinegar, see
Acetum.
The ordinary fruits and vegetables were sold in the markets: grapes, apples, pears, peaches,
plums, oranges, figs, quinces, melons, pomegranates, nuts, and pease, beets, cucumbers (which
were also pickled), lettuce, beans, onions, turnips, cabbages, cauliflowers, and radishes.
The skill of the pastry-cook did much towards making a formal dinner successful. Pastry was
set upon the table in the most varied forms, animal and vegetable, some idea of which may be
gathered from the
Cena Trimalchionis. Eggs of paste were served which, when
broken, revealed young birds inside delicately cooked in sauce that counterfeited the
appearance of a yolk. Cakes and sweetmeats were made in great quantities, honey being used for
sweetening them. (See
Placenta; Scriblita.) Cheese
entered largely into Roman cookery, especially into the manufacture of cakes, and the
description of some of these as so made is very appetizing. (See
Caseus.) Butter was not largely used, its place being taken by oil. (See
Butyrum.) For the methods of making bread and for
the various kinds of bread, see the article
Pistor.
Information regarding wines will be found under
Vinum,
and reference may also be made to the article
Symposium. For beer, see
Cervesia, and for
other drinks,
Calda;
Posca. On the ancient notions regarding diet and the nutritive value of foods, see
Diaetetica, and cf.
Athletae;
Cena.
On the whole general subject of food in antiquity, see Saalfeld,
Küche
und Keller in Alt-Rom (Berlin, 1883); Baudrillart,
Hist. du Luxe
Privé, etc., vol. ii.
(Paris, 1880); and the special sections
in Becker-Göll,
Charikles; id.
Gallus; and
Friedländer's
Sittengeschichte Roms. Prof. C. G. Herbermann has given
an interesting table of the approximate cost of various articles of food in the Roman markets
in his
Business Life in Ancient Rome (New York, 1880). Cf. also
the article
Sumptuariae Leges.
