We know that the Ancient Romans enjoyed their food because many texts from those times have survived describing meals, and there are even Ancient Roman recipe books!
The evening meal, the main meal of the day, would have brought the whole family together.
Other meals, such as breakfast, were simple affairs.
The food would have been served on low tables with the family lying beside the table on soft cushions.
The Romans did not use forks but helped themselves to the food with their fingers. They would have had a knife for cutting bread and meat.
Rich Romans would have had slaves to cut their food for them at dinner.
The food would often have been garnished with Sauces, Herbs and Spices.
A favourite flavouring for all kinds of food was Garam - a fermented and highly flavoured fish sauce.
Poorer Romans and slaves would have survived for much of the time on a poor diet of bread, and a wheatmeal porridge called puls.
The very rich Romans, may at times have had very extravagant feasts at which exotic foods such as ostrich, wild boar, giraffe, songbirds and thrushes, and even roast dormice!
Scroll down the page to find out what "Second Table" meant to the Ancient Romans. There is also a picture of a bowl of figs.
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Though dinner for poorer Romans might consist of bread (made from Emmer Wheat) and olive oil, usually dinner for the better-off Romans consisted of three courses.
An interesting fact is that the last course was called the "secundae mensae", which literally means "second table".
This name arose from the custom of removing the entire table and replacing it with another loaded with the final desert course.
The final course might have consisted of various fruits, honey cakes, nuts and sweet sauces.
Remember that the Roman Society included the very poor and the very rich, meals would have varied according to the family's means.
Glass Bowl of Containing Roman Figs
Detail from Roman wall painting depicting a glass bowl containing figs first century CE.
Oplontis, Roman villa.
Source: www.vroma.org
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Ancient Rome History Resource
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