Roman and Medieval Gardening

This week's blog is going to discuss Roman gardens and their uses a little more and then I want to jump into Medieval gardens and discuss their characteristics as well as some of their influences.  This week's blog will be a little shorter than the rest for two reasons.  One, I will not be including pictures like I have done for my previous blogs, primarily due to the fact that the sources I have looked at do not include any and I do not want to pull random pictures from the Internet.  Two, I have started gathering my information now and am now in the process of starting my paper this weekend.  As the semester is entering its final month, I will be working more and more on my paper and website.  The rough draft to my paper is due next week so I hope I pull through!

The first source I looked at this week was K. D. White's Roman Farming, and the second source I looked at was Elisabeth B. MacDougall's Medieval Gardens.

As with one of the sources I looked at earlier in the semester, White looks at the drainage and irrigation systems used by the Romans to hydrate their gardens.  There was no way anyone in the Mediterranean could do without water and later irrigation because of the hot climate.  Another reason irrigation was necessary was the fact that most crops grew when the temperature was the hottest and the rainfall was the least.  At the same time, however, it was difficult to conserve water due to the fact that it oftentimes did not rain enough in the winter.  Conservation of water can actually be attributed to the Mesopotamians who were the first ever to create a system that kept in water, and also the first to take action in terms of flood control.  The Egyptians had also set up irrigation systems along the Nile so that they could hydrate their gardens. (1)

In terms of actual records regarding Roman drainage and irrigation, not much has been recovered, primarily due to the fact that the Romans were considerably poorer in folklore than there Greek counterparts, for example.  This does not mean that they did not have irrigation systems.  In general the Mediterranean is abundant when it comes to tuberous plants and herbs.  For instance, marrows and gourds require a lot of water.  So as the Romans worked to create and then improve their irrigation systems, the better irrigation allowed for an increase in the amount of vegetables available to each family. (2)

White explains that three key things were needed for a market-gardener in the Roman world to produce in abundance: manure, water, and patience.  White refers to Cato and how Cato believed that during the 2nd century an irrigated produce garden was the second most profitable business after a vineyard.  In some cases, growing certain crops like bulbs and legumes, were a year round business.  Water being one of the most important parts of gardening, was brought in several ways.  One method was channeling it in through natural springs (fons), and another way was gather it from wells (puteus); the second method was preferred by the Romans.  A third, but even less popular method was to build furrows that would lead water down hills and into gardens. (3)

The kitchen garden (hortus) was a big part of the lifestyle of early Romans.  The reason for this being that the Roman diet was primarily vegetarian during this time.  Early Romans ate porridges instead of baked breads, various beans, roots (carrots and radishes), and greens (peas, cabbage, lettuce).  According to Virgil's Georgics, the soil of the hortus should be "friable and permeable" and placed near a stream for a ready water supply.  (4) 

While White discusses many aspects of Roman irrigation, he does not go into great detail about it as a whole.  Other sources I have looked at focus on the Roman garden in general, but White does not.  Elisabeth MacDougall's book on the other hand focuses on Medieval gardens as a whole and talks in great detail about them.  Today I will be focusing on MacDougall's discussion of the alimentary and medicinal uses of Medieval gardens, the garden types, and the types of species planted in these gardens.

MacDougall makes it clear that there are several sources and records of plants and tress that have been "grown, maintained, and collected" to be used for food and/or medicine.  Before she gets into that she explains that it is important to study the Greco-Roman roots for three reasons. (5)

The first reason is the actual connection between the plants grown in the Roman West and those grown during the Middle Ages.  One of the explanations for this could be the territorial overlapping of both; i.e. Italy, southern Germany, most of France, and much of Britain, all during the Pax Romana (Roman Peace).  During the Middle Ages they even used the classical Greco-Roman names that were used earlier to identify plants.  Going along with that, classical botanical knowledge was an "extension" of classical botanical knowledge. (6)

The second reason is the fact that the same plant species were used for almost a millennium for the same purposes.  As mentioned earlier, plants were used for their nutrition, but also for medicine.  The only background information that can be acquired for plants was through Greco-Roman texts; if they did not have a plant, nothing was known about it.  The uses and purposes for some species are still unclear to us today. (7)

The third reason is to discover exactly why those species were used for specific conditions.  Since garden space was limited, it was only appropriate for those that served more than one purpose to have the "upper-hand" and be prioritized.  All the medicinal plants we have records of did serve two or more purposes.  The plants used during the Roman times help expand Medieval civilizations; 350 species were used in Roman times for alimentary and medicinal purposes, all of which were known by name by the 12th c.  One group of species, referred to as salsamenta, was used for seasoning or flavoring.  Some of these plants included dill, garlic, marjoram, rue, and sage. (8)

Next MacDougall discusses the different garden types and explains that gardens were designed based on their purposes and varied in size and appearance.  

The first garden type and probably most popular was the kitchen garden.  Its main purpose was the "raising of food stuffs" and growing things for nourishment.  Depending on its location near the cottage or home, the size and shape of the garden varied.  The other purpose of this type of garden was to provide as much produce as possible in the limited space given.  Some of the main plants grown were cabbage, onion, some root veggies and certain legumes like beans, peas, or lentils. (9)

The second garden and perhaps second in popularity was the medicinal garden.  Its purpose was to provide medicinal plants that were to be used individually or as ingredients in compounds.  MacDougall argues that this garden must resemble our modern-day herb garden and may have contained anise, coriander, fennel, hyssop, and savory. (10)

The third garden was the Patrician garden that was usually associated with prosperous householders, in both rural and urban areas.  Contained both alimentary and ornamental plants, but it also had a medicinal role.  All the species grown in this garden also played a symbolic role in Medieval society. (11)

The fourth garden was the cloister garden that was set within a "religious establishment" and used mostly for meditation, but could also be used for other things.  We do not know much about this garden because not much is written about it.  The one thing we do know is the three main species planted in this garden: red rose, the white, lily, and the humble violet. (12)

The fifth and final type of garden was the pleasure garden used, well, for pleasure.  It contained flowering plants, ornamental shrubs, and fruit trees, and usually had a grassy lawn (viridarium).  Unlike cloister gardens, we have good records that discuss the species planted in these gardens.  Some of the most popular species were lavender, fennel, or mint, and fruit trees. (13)

The next topic discussed by MacDougall and the final topic I will be discussing in this blog is that of Medieval garden species.  According to MacDougall, there are probably 275-300 known species from the Medieval period.  Even though I emphasized earlier that many of the species were grown for alimentary and medicinal purposes, that was not the case for all plants.  MacDougall discusses that there are six different sources from which we get our information on Medieval plants species from. 

The first group of sources are primary sources like those of Charlemagne (Capitulare de Villis), the Plan of St. Gall, and Walahfrid Strabo's Liber de cultura hortorum.  The second group of sources comes from descriptions of individual private gardens. (14)

The third source comes from literature, specifically passages, chapters, or sections from the works like Boccacio, Petrarch, and Chaucer.  The fourth source is from philological means from Medieval Latin and vernacular nomenclature. (15)

The fifth source of information comes from "the chemical and physiological activity of many temperate zone species" that have been worked out and help confirm the identification of various plants whose identities were not finalized previously.  The sixth and final source or sources are that of paintings, miniatures, tapestries, and other art objects.  The only problem with this is that if there is not enough detail plants may not be identified.  Also, just because a plant was depicted in Medieval art, it does not meant that it was grown in the Greco-Roman world. (16)

MacDougall's book is an amazing representation of Medieval gardens, but I would have appreciated if her and White would have added some pictures, just to give readers a visual sense of what they are talking about.  Within the next couple of weeks I hope to learn more about Medieval gardens and also to get my paper done so that I could set up the website! Happy Easter to all those celebrating and God bless!

Importance of Horticulture in Roman History

In this weeks blog my goal is to look at how agriculture (and even horticulture) became an important part of the Roman Empire and cuisine.  What is special about this blog is that I actually made a Roman dessert this week.  Even though the dessert was not hard to make in any sense, it was still interesting.  I was thinking of maybe even taking it a step further and making an actual entree for another blog, but we will see...Roman dishes are not simple!  The book I looked at this week is Cuisine & Culture: a History of Food and People by Linda Civitello.  Unlike previous books that I have looked at that focus solely on the Roman Empire, Civitello's book looks at cuisines from different cultures across vast periods of time.

When it comes to the Romans, Civitello starts off with a little history.  Rome was founded in 753 BC by twins Romulus and Remus.  Legend has it that the two were born underneath an olive tree, which symbolized that they were descendants of a god, in this case Mars (god of war) and a Latin princess.  The twins were said to have been abandoned, but saved and raised by a she-wolf.  When they got older, Romulus murdered Remus in order to gain supreme control and rule over the now existent city of Rome.  Unlike the story of Romulus and Remus, the actual city of Rome is not a myth and was founded on the 7 hills, near the Tiber River.  The river played a crucial role in terms of defense and trade, the latter made possible due to the large salt deposits near the river. (1)

Romulus and Remus suckling the she-wolf.

Seeing that the Romans lived in close proximity with the Greeks, it would only see natural for them to affect one another.  One way they influenced each other was religiously.  Romans borrowed the Greek gods and goddesses of Olympus and made them their own after having been introduced to them by the Greeks that lived in Sicily.  After periods of wars, the Romans brought over Greek slaves who also brought the Greek cuisine along with them.  They also brought with them the love of wine with the saying, "in wine there is truth!" (In vino veritas). (2)

From 264 to 146 BC, the Romans partook in the Grain Wars, better known as the Punic Wars.  In these wars they fought the Phoenicians whose capital city was Carthage.  The main objective for either side was to get control of the trade in the Western Mediterranean, especially the grain fields in Sicily.  During the second of these wars, the Phoenician general Hannibal surprised the Romans from attacking northern Italy and in the process destroyed fields of wheat and barley, as well as orchards of apples, pears, and lemons.  Subsequently the Romans attacked Carthage and burnt the entire city, spreading salt all over it so nothing can ever grow there again.  As a result of these wars and the damage to the land, Roman farmers could not replant or even fix the land.  Another issue was competing with slave labor that seemed impossible at the time.  For these reasons they were forced to sell their land to wealthy landowners and did one of two things: moved to the countryside to work or moved to the city and lived as "poor people."  Eventually the a third of the population of Rome was made up of slaves, while another quarter of it was poor. (3)

Civitello also provides her readers with information about the Roman government during the Republic, which was three-part.  The first part consisted of 300 senators that would serve for the rest of their life making laws.  The second part consisted of 2 "co-consuls" that commanded the army and administered the laws made by the senate.  The third and final part of the Roman government consisted of the court system.  The Republic ended with the murder of Julius Caesar on March 15, 44 BC, and consequently a Civil War followed that would last for 17 years. (4)

Augustus of Prima Porta.

The war ended when Caesar's adoptive son, Octavian (later renamed Augustus when he became emperor) defeated Mark Anthony and Cleopatra at a naval battle; the latter two committed suicide as a result.  When Octavian, now Augustus, took control of the Empire in 27 BC he became Rome's first  emperor.  Through his rule he created "Roman Peace," Pax Romana, that would last 213 years.  Not only did the Empire not have any enemies, but during this time it would also have colonies in three different continents. (5)

Unlike previous works I have looked at, Civitello actually distinguishes between upper-class and lover-class cuisine.  She states that only ten percent of Rome's population belonged in the upper-class and were referred to as patricians.  The main meals of the day for these people were breakfast and dinner.  Breakfast consisted of leftovers, specifically cheese, olives, and bread.  Lunch (prandia) was usually eaten at a bathhouse, if you were not invited to someone's home.  Dinner (cena) could either be eaten with family alone, or with guests (convivium).  During dinners the host-guest relationship was of great importance; the Romans called the host a hospes. (6)

Many mistaken the Roman convivium with the Greek symposium, but the two are quite different.  For instance, the Romans did not practice any religious rituals, the Greeks did.  Another difference is the type of meat they would eat; Romans ate pig, while Greeks ate lamb or mutton.  The Romans during dinner, not after; and Roman men and women ate together, where as women were not allowed in the Greek symposium. (7)

Roman convivium.

Dining Al Fresco was also an important part in Roman cuisine and culture.  Al fresco refers to dining in good weather that would usually take place in a garden.  These gardens could be ornamental for show, or food gardens for produce.  In these gardens the Romans also made sure that they grew certain plants in order to feed bees that would provide them with honey, a natural sweetener.  These plants included rosemary, thyme, and roses.  The gardens were decorated with urns, statues, dials, shrines, and altars.  Grapevines were a natural home to birds, but also provided the garden with shade.  Aqueducts were used to bring in water for fountains, pools, and ponds that housed fish and ducks. (8)

The next part Civitello discusses is the Roman cook Apicius and the first ever known cookbook.  Apicius' cookbook dates back to the 1st c. AD and is called De re coquinera ("cooking matters"); consists of ten chapters.  Eventually this book was translated into German and then English in 1936.  From these recipes it is evident that the Romans liked sauces and meats.  Common ingredients included black pepper, garum, olive oil, honey, vinegar, wine, cumin, rue, and coriander; garlic was not a part of upper-class cooking because it was known a seasoning of the poor. Vinegar was used specifically to add tang to recipes and was usually combined with honey or garum.  Oregano and mint were also mildly popular ingredients. (9)

Next, Civitello discusses lower-class cuisine, in which she refers to as street food.  Since the top ten percent of the population made up the upper-class, it would only seem reasonable that the lower-class was made up of the ninety percent of the population; these people were referred to as the plebeians.  Since they lived in small tenements there was no availability of space for a kitchen, thus they relied on street vendors.  Street vendors sold bread or grain pastes.  Bread could be leavened or unleavened, or made with poppy seeds, pepper, salt, cheese, and honey. (10)

Although the Byzantine Empire was more Greek than it was Roman, I found it interesting that the Byzantines helped preserve some Roman traditions.  While the Byzantine markets were full of foods that the Romans did not know of, the Byzantines managed to preserve garum which was eventually lost in the west.  The Byzantines also brought many eastern foods to the west like eggplant, melons, and oranges. (11)

But what about the New World? What did the Americas have to offer to the Old World?  Well for one, it was very difficult to try and convince people to eat foods that they were not familiar with from the New World; it actually took 300 YEARS for Europeans to accept New World foods.  As a way of introducing New World foods, Europeans tried to make connections.  For example, Columbus' son described cocoa beans as "special almonds"; the explorer Coronado called buffalo cows with horns; the potato was the earth apple; in Italy the tomato was the "golden apple" or pomodoro, because the tomatoes that were brought over were yellow.  Turkey, tobacco, and beans were three things that had little trouble being accepted in the Old World.  Turkey replaced birds like the swan and peacock; while beans were probably accepted because they resembled chickpeas and lentils. (12)

During the Renaissance, the Italians rediscovered anything and everything that had to do with Classical Greece and Rome.  They rediscovered Roman cuisine with the discovery of some of Apicius' writings in 1457. (13) I myself rediscovered Roman cuisine this week by making a Roman dish that was usually served as a dessert, but for some reason it reminded me of breakfast...details below!

Honey Frittata (from Apicius)

Ingredients: 

-4 eggs

-1 cup milk

-2 TBS olive oil

-3 TBS honey

-pepper (or poppy seeds) to taste

Mix the 4 eggs with the milk and oil until all three are diluted into one substance.  Take a shallow pan and add some oil to it.  Let the oil heat until it boils and then add the mixture.  Allow the mix to cook on one side, not two, and then flip onto a plate.  Drizzle with honey and sprinkle with pepper or poppy seeds. Serves up to four people! (14)

Top: eggs, milk, and oil before mixed.
Bottom: eggs, milk, and oil after mixed.

Mixture in the frying pan.

Final product, drizzled with honey and sprinkled with pepper.

While making this dessert, I realized how simple and easy it was.  The only thing I did not like was how my entire house smelled like fried oil after wards, but that went away quickly anyway.  I did not know what to expect when making the frittata, but once I poured it into the pan it automatically reminded me of an omelet...a very simple omelet anyway.  When the dessert was finished, I thought maybe I had over cooked it, but as I bit into it I realized that the burnt top made up for the under cooked bottom!  This dish reminded me more of breakfast than of dessert not only because of the eggs, but also because of the honey; it reminded me of maple syrup.

This blog may have come to an end, but my discussion of Roman gardens and cuisine has not! Next week I plan on finding more information on this topic and maybe looking at Medieval gardens and cuisine a bit more.  I am having some trouble expanding my knowledge on the topic, but hopefully I will find some new things to discuss and maybe I will make another Roman dish. 

Inside The Roman Kitchen Continued

This week's blog will continue the discussion of Roman cuisine and some of the main sources that have helped us come about ancient Roman cuisine.  The work that I will draw from and refer to is A Taste of Ancient Rome by Ilaria Giacosa.  Giacosa does a good job by drawing from the works of various ancient Roman cooks who documented their work.  She also does a good job of talking about the different foods used in the kitchen, not only fruits and vegetables, but also cheeses and meats.  She briefly discusses the Roman banquet and how it was set up, but I will not go into too much detail about it seeing that I have already discussed it in previous blogs.  She then discusses the various parts of the Roman meal and what the main ingredients used in each part.  In these sections she also notes many Roman recipes.  

The first area I want to touch upon that is discussed in Giacosa's book is that of the use of ancient sources.  Since the Roman civilization lasted a little over a thousand years it is only natural to think that it would changed on multiple occasions; this change includes shifts in its cuisine.  The change, as noted by Giacosa, may have been due to a shift in the economy of the empire.  The empire started off small, poor, and limited agriculturally.  As the Romans expanded their empire, their resources also grew and diversified due to their connection to three different continents. (1)

The first author discussed, and that I have discussed in an earlier blog, is Cato.  The focus of Cato's work was agriculture around 180 BC.  The second author discussed is Columella whom I have also mentioned before.  Columella also wrote about agriculture, a couple hundred years after Cato, specifically 35-45 AD.  Both of these men provide readers with instructions for prepping simple foods, i.e., how to store and season olives, what to feed slaves that are working on a field.  They also discuss several recipes for grains, as well as tips for seasoning various cheeses and preserving fruits and veggies. (2)

Cato the Censor was a politician, but also a devoted farmer and fairly famous for this during the Roman Republic.  During his youth he worked on his parents farm and continued this as he grew older.  His famous writing is De agricultura which discusses how to manage an estate, types of slave work, what to feed slaves, and the different breads one could use during ritual sacrifices. (3)

Columella was a military man, a politician, and an agriculturalist.  He came from a wealthy Spanish family and eventually moved to Rome.  One area where Columella is known for is for being a part of a successful business selling plants.  The other area he is known for is his work De re rustica which was more complex than the work of Cato. It consisted of thirteen books each of which was based on a single subject.  De re rustica provided recipes on how to preserve fruits and vegetables, and instructions on how to prep wine, vinegar, and mustard among other things. (4)

Triclinium from A Taste of Rome by Ilaria Giacosa.

Apicius and Petronius are the third and fourth authors Giacosa discusses.  Most of our information on Roman cuisine comes from these two men.  Both men were of the upper class of Roman society.

Petronius wrote Cena Trimlchionis, a book that discusses the types of meals that were popular during the reign of Nero.

Apicius lived during the 1st c. AD and organized banquets as well as invented crazy dishes and sauces.  Some of the main ingredients in these crazy dishes were the used of flamingo and nightingale tongues, camel heels, and roasted ostrich.  This interested me because it shows how the Romans incorporated different resources from different areas of the empire in their cuisine.  Apicius was such a popular cook that other sources contemporary to his time and after him cited him.  For example, Pliny the Elder credited Apicius with the idea of force-feeding geese figs in order to enlarge their livers.  Apicius is also known for naming various dishes, some of which are the following: palina for egg-based dishes; concicia for bean or pea dishes; minutal for fricasee; ofellae for stew meat; and isicia for ground meat patties.  His legacy lived on after he died, so much so that 200 years after his death a good cook was referred to as an "Apicius".  Unfortunately his life ended in suicide after he lost all his wealth and could not handle life without it.  Eventually all of his recipes were integrated with other recipes, including Greek ones, and became known as De re coquinaria. (5)

Giacosa also mentions the poet Martial who gives us perspectives on the everyday life of Rome.  His following three works discuss food.  His Epigrams discusses meals and popular foods.  Xenia discusses the different foods Romans would traditionally exchange during the Saturnalia, the most important holiday of the year.  His Apophoreta discusses the mementos guests would receive from the hosts during a banquet.  Martial's works are good in discussing the types of foods the Romans ate, but also the types of rituals they partook in. (6)

The second area Giacosa discusses is the sources of food that the Romans used.  I appreciated that she made note that Roman food differs greatly from modern-day Italian food. She notes that the tomato and potato that are so popular in Italian cooking today, were non existent during the Republic.  They were only included in Italian cooking after the discovery of the Americas; other resources also introduced later were eggplant, sweet and hot peppers, corn, turkey, dates, and citrus.  Oranges for instance were introduced in the 10th c. in Sicily by the Arabs.  The lemon was from the Orient and was brought to Greece (and later Rome) by Alexander the Great (356-323 BC).  

A big part of Roman and Mediterranean cuisine was fish.  The abundance of fish of various types in the Mediterranean Sea caused the Romans to make it a big part of their diet.  Sea food included sardines, anchovies, tuna, scorpion fish, red mullet, lobster, squid, cuttlefish, and octopus.  In terms of meat the Romans ate cattle, pig, lamb, goat, chickens, geese, ducks, pigeons, doves, deer, and boars.  

Veggies were the most popular and most available of all foods.  They included asparagus, carrots, leaf cabbage, onions, leeks, squash, and cucumbers.  They could be eaten cooked or raw or incorporated into soups.  

Romans also enjoyed cheeses that were made from sheep or goat milk and served as the basic source of nutrition during the Republic.  Cheese was given to people as gifts and mixed with water and cracked wheat to create several delicious cakes.

Fruits were also a big part of the Roman diet and were usually eaten at the end of the meal just like they are today in Italy.  Among the most popular were pears, apples, pomegranates, quinces, plums, blackberries and mulberries.  The Romans also imported fruits like the apricot from Armenia, the peach from Persia, and dates from Palestine and Ethiopia.

Another important part of Roman cuisine was the use of grains to make soups, porridges,  bread, and cakes.  The nutritional value of these grains was far greater than that of grains today because they were not processed or refined.  The earliest grains used by Romans were barley, spelt, rye, oats, millet , and panicum.  Barley was the most important because it was used to feed Roman troops, while oats were used to only feed animals.

Rice was a luxury item brought over to the Roman Empire from India; its cultivation in Europe didn't begin until the 8th c.  Wheat was also widely cultivated in Rome and was used to make white bread, black bread, leavened bread, flat-bread, and was seasoned with poppy, anise, fennel, celery, and caraway seeds for flavor.   The Romans also used three different types of flour to back with: fine flour (siligo), intermediate type (simila), and whole-grain (cibarium).  Below is a map of all the food sources in ancient Rome. (7)

From A Taste of Rome by Ilaria Giacosa.

Due to this growing increase of resources from expansion, the Romans were able to set up food shops.  These food shops were highly relied on by those who were not able to grow their gardens or set up their own fields for cultivation.  These food shops then resulted in the creation of food markets.  One of the largest markets was the Market of Trajan which housed 150 shops on 6 different floors.  It was built during the reign of Trajan (98-117 AD) by the architect Apolodorus of Damascus. (8)

Giacosa's discussion of the Roman kitchen and banquet is nothing new from what I have discussed in earlier blogs.  The kitchen for an ordinary Roman family was small and not really considered kitchens because the homes were typically small.  Wealthier and bigger homes had what we today would consider "real kitchens."  These kitchens didn't have windows, contained a packed dirt floor, and didn't have an exhaust channel so smoke could escape, which resulted in many fires. (9)

Among the furnishings in these kitchens were the following: ovens for baking cakes and bread; a water basin; a couple of burners on top of a brick base; and a pantry and storage room to keep foods.  The burners were maintained by wood or charcoal, the latter of which produced less smoke.  Romans also had utensils which included wooden, metal, or bone knives, spoons, and spatulas, and whisks, sifters, skewers, grills, mortars, and pots. (10)

Hanging pots in a Roman kitchen from A Taste of Ancient Rome by Ilaria Giacosa.

In a triclinium the slaves did the cooking, while the upper class ate in a reclining position.  The slave not only prepared the food, but he or she also cleaned the table when everyone was done.  In terms of etiquette those eating were expected to eat a little at a time.  When dining, one was supposed to recline on his or her left arm and eat food with his or her right hand. (11)

My favorite part about Giacosa's work was her discussion of the different parts of the Roman dinner.  She gives detailed information about how they made sauces, and what were the most popular appetizers, main courses, and desserts.  I will talk about all except for main courses because in my next blog I will be making a Roman plate from one of those three choices.

The Romans LOVED to create sauces for their foods.  It was in many ways the most important part of the meal because it could easily change the taste of any food.  Sauces were made to accompany many foods, meat, fish, veggies, and eggs to name a few.  The basic ingredients for sauces included berries, spices, wine, fermented fish sauce (garum), olive oil, vinegar, water, dates, hazelnuts, walnuts, and starch.  Garum was perhaps the most common ingredient of all and it was something that the Romans borrowed from the Greeks.  Garum was actually popular throughout the Mediterranean in general, and this goes back to the fact that there was so much fish available.  The sale of garum was in large pre-packed amphoras, so we know it was a big business! (12)

Garum sauce 

Appetizers were important because they kicked off the meal.  The usual choices were seasoned eggs, egg-based dishes, veggies, salad, mushrooms, assorted shellfish, cheeses seasoned with herbs, olives, and sausages. The usual serving size for these appetizers was 2-3 people. (13)

Reading about the desserts was my favorite probably because I have a sweet tooth! Giacosa explains that the Romans either served sweets, fresh or dried fruits, salted focaccias (breads with different seasonings and herbs), and sometimes even sausages or cheese for dessert.  She pulls from the works of Cato and Apicius to give us some traditional Roman dessert recipes.  Cato's recipes are simple and were made to accommodate the farmer and his family.  The main ingredients in these recipes were flour, cheese, and honey.  Apicius' recipes were more sophisticated and thus required more ingredients. (14)

In my next blog I will start off my making one or two of the recipes mentioned in A Taste of Ancient Rome and then talking about them.  I really enjoyed Giacosa's work, but I would have loved if she would have provided pictures of some of the foods she discusses so that I would know what each dish is supposed to look like before I start cooking/baking it.  Other than that, I cannot wait to get "hands-on" this week!

Inside the Roman Kitchen

This week's blog differs from all the rest, almost completely.  It is special in that it represents the shift from the Roman garden to the Roman kitchen.  I began to look at the different aspects of Roman cuisine and in this blog, as well as future blogs, I hope to look at how the Romans used the fruits and vegetables they grew in their gardens in their cuisine.  The source I worked with this week was Around the Roman Table: Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome by Patrick Faas.  I looked at Rome's culinary history, how Roman cuisine was incorporated in daily life, the different Roman courses, and the Roman and kitchen among other things.  I think this book served as a good intro into the actual Roman kitchen and in the future I hope to go more in depth about certain Roman foods, possibly even trying to cook a Roman dish my self!

The period of the Roman Republic began in 509 BC when the last Etruscan king of Rome, Tarquinias Superbus, was exiled.  This started a long conquest of land by the now established Roman Empire.  The whole purpose of this conquest was to take over land with the sense of converting it to farmland.  At the beginning, the land was owned by the state and distributed to Roman war veterans, but slowly more and more peasants began to join the army and as a result started to own land.  These peasants would later become landlords.  When the Romans were threatened by the Greeks they had to learn how to fight at sea, since the Greeks did not fight by land.  The main goal for the Romans was to take over Sicily because the land there was very fertile.  In 147 BC the Romans conquered Carthage, which consisted of modern-day Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya.  The Romans destroyed the majority of Carthaginian culture and did not adopt any of its cultures.  By the end of the Republic the Romans took over Egypt, exploiting and pillaging much of it.  Unlike Carthage, the Romans found much of Egyptian fauna and flora useful in terms of cooking.  They also took much of the animals from northern Africa and used them in circus performances, only to be killed and eaten after.  While at war with Greece, many Roman soldiers tried to abstain from Greek cuisine; they did not want to associate themselves with the enemy in any way.  The Greeks were simple farmers who's main agricultural income came from olives and grapes.  After Alexander the Great took over Persia and Egypt during the 4th c. BC, Greek cuisine changed. (1)

Spices began to be introduced to the Roman Empire after they took over several several important trade routes after their conquests that led to India and China.  Roman cooks began to use black pepper, cloves, and nutmeg.  Black pepper became a common ingredient in Roman cuisine that cooks only pointed out when it WAS NOT being used in their foods. (2)

Believe it or not, food was even regulated under Roman law.  For example, there were laws that prohibited incorporating foreign cuisine.  There were other laws that prohibited the serving of foreign wine.  There was also a limit on how much silver can be used at the table, as well as a limit on the number of guests.  The Lex Fannia prohibited various luxurious foods; one of the purposes of this was to keep the appetites of citizens within bounds.  The wealthier citizens ignored laws like these.  In terms of religion there was no restrictions against food, the idea being that the gods themselves weren't even modest.  The bigger the temple was, the bigger the offering had to be.  The Romans of course had feast days that were associated with different deities.  On these days many Romans would take a day off, either celebrating privately within their homes or publicly.  Romans also had feasts to celebrate birthdays and weddings. (3)

During the Empire (7 BC-AD 476) Roman society was very diverse.  It consisted of a wealthy upper class, a large number of slaves, free citizens and foreigners.  The Roman Empire had stretched itself by this point and had established many colonies.  This benefited the Romans because of all the resources that would be brought in from these colonies; there was no way Rome would ever starve. During this time also, Roman cuisine became less and less simple because the Romans began to crave rare and exotic foods from the lands they conquered.  It also became a kind of status symbol for the more exotic and larger amounts of food a Roman could provide to his or her guest, the better of a host he or she became.  Everyone in the Empire shared this goal to attain luxurious foods.  This began to decline when the Romans stopped conquering new lands.  No new lands meant no new farms which in turn slowed down trade and made it increasingly difficult to feed the growing population.  The state then began to rely on the rich to give hand-outs of their land, but then also declined as years progressed. (4)

Just like the majority of us living today, the Romans also had three major meals during the day.  Breakfast, called ientaculum, mainly consisted of bread dipped in milk or undiluted wine.  Other options were curd cheese with honey, olives, raisins, fruits, or nuts.  Breakfast was eaten at home or out in public.  It was recommended that the Romans did not eat too heavily because it was seen as unhealthy.  Lunch, called prandium, began during the middle of the day and lasted until the hotness of the day went away (kind of like modern-day siestas in Spain and Greece).  The prandium directly means bathhouse where Romans would go and eat food like bread, cold meat, or fish.  In these bathhouses they also performed athletics because it made people hungry so they would eat more, but also to keep their weight down.  Dinner, called cena, began upon return from the bathhouse at four or five o' clock in the afternoon.  They ate this early so the sun would not go away because they relied on lamps with olive oil; the oil was expensive.  It one was not invited to dinner then he or she could go to a bathhouse.  Home cooking was difficult to attain because of the lack of running water and stoves. (5)

To my surprise, the Romans were actually pretty civilized in terms of table manners and etiquette.  They adopted these manners and etiquette from the Greeks and Etruscans, the former of which even spoke during dinner.  During dinner men wore the toga cenatoris, which was thin, white, un-dyed wool.  The tunica was a simpler, rectangular shirt, oftentimes with sleeves, and was worn by everyday people.  The tunica was worn at the market, or to the bathhouse for a snack, but was never worn at the triclinium (couch for eating in the Roman garden).  Hosts and guests alike washed their hands and sometimes even washed and massaged their feet.  At the actual triclinium seating was arranged to promote sociability.  For instance, a magistrate never sat next to another magistrate, and and young person never sat next to another young person.  An example of a seating arrangement is illustrated below. (6)

Roman seating plan from Around the Roman Table by Patrick Faas.

The courses were three part: the starters, the main course, and dessert.  Starters consisted of a promulsis and gustatio, and began with the aperitif to help the digestion of food.  It also consisted of wine that was poured in a traditional drinking bowl and passed from guest to guest, similar to what occurred in the Greek symposium.  During the promulsis one can be served oysters, octopus, cauliflower, marinated vegetables, onion, garlic, snails, sea urchins, wild mushrooms, or salsamentum, (ham, bacon, salted fish).  Another important food that was always present was olives, usually in a paste called epithyrum.  The starters usually began with eggs and ended with fruit.  The main course was the mensa prima which meant "head of dinner".  It was always better than the starters.  One popular dish was the minutal, small cut veggies baked with a little meat or fishballs and pieces of ham.  Dessert (mensa secunda) began after the guests had finished wiping their mouths and hands with bread.  In some cases the dessert was sacrificed when  the children would burn some of it.  Dessert could be on of three things. Fruit: apples, pears, strawberries, peaches, dates, figs, apricots, grapes, cherries, pomegranates, plums, and/or raspberries.  Nuts: walnuts, hazelnuts, beechnuts, almonds, sweet chestnuts, pistachios, and pine kernels.  Cakes: "marzipan, sesame-seed or poppy-seed buns with honey, and filo pastry with crushed nuts." (7)

What I enjoyed from Faas' work was his inclusion of several Roman menus.  Below I have provided two menus, one from Pliny the Younger (Pliny the Elder's nephew) and the other from Stella. 

1) Pliny the Younger:
   -Gustatio: salad, 3 snails, 2 hard-boiled eggs
   -Caput cenae: Puls, baked courgettes with sauce, wild flower-bulbs in vinegar
   -Mensa secunda: Mulsum ice, fresh fruit
2) Stella:

   -Gustatio: lettuce, 'aphrodisiac herb', marshmallow, garden herbs, leek with       peppermint, anchovies with rue and boiled egg; sow's udder (mammary gland of cows or sheep) with garum. 
   -Caput cenae: garden beans and sprouts; chicken; or ham
   -Mensa secunda: ripe fruit (8)

Faas briefly discusses wreaths, how they used plants to make them and each plant used was dedicated to a particular god.  He also discusses perfumes and how they were used to keep heads cool and to keep good health.  The most popular scent was that of roses,  but Romans also enjoyed the scent of quince blossom, oregano, and thyme. (9) (I will not be discussing wreaths and perfumes any further because I have gone in depth about them in previous blogs).

Now I get into the actual cook and kitchen portion of the Roman world.  The cook was called the coquus or cocus and in Rome it was usually a slave, but in the provinces and other parts of the "known world" it was a woman's job.  The householder used his own home garden for his resources in terms of cooking.  He also had to sacrifice animals (cut, roast, and serve).  The wealthier citizens owned several cooks,  Since they tended to be slaves they were sold in the market as bakers, grinders, or chefs.  The two most essential aspects of Roman cooking was water and fire.  Water was originally rainwater, collected from the impluvium, but then water came from the aqueducts that were set up.  One could also collect water from public fountains.  The fire was started by the housewife and was associated with the goddess Vesta. (10) 

The actual kitchens varied in size depending on the size of the house; the bigger the house, the bigger the kitchen.  The kitchen had a solid, built-in stove known as a focus that was made of clay or cement.  Another type of stove was the camminus, which included a chimney about it.  The oven was called the furnus and is illustrated below.  In a typical Roman kitchen one would also find hooks on the wall for hanging cooking utensils and pots and pans.  Among the most common pots and pans used were the pultarius (stewing pot), the caccabus (pot for simmering), the padella (shallow pan), the patina (circuclar or oval dish), and the angulis (square pan).  The first four are shown in the second image below. (11)

From Around the Roman Table by Patrick Faas.

From Around the Roman Table by Patrick Faas.

In terms of food, Faas explains that the Romans categorized their food in four different flavors.  The first was sour and it consisted primarily of citrus and vinegar.  Citrus was used for mouthwash and to strengthen vinegar.  The actual leaves were used more than the juice itself in Roman cooking.  Vinegar was used to cure drunkenness  gargled it to cure sunstroke, or to wash eyes. (12)

The second flavor was salty and it was primarily used to preserve foods which then made Romans love salty foods.  Actual salty foods consisted of brine (salting cheese, olives, and ham); seawater; garum (fish sauce that was highly salted, and made from fermented fish); allec (similar to Italian anchovy paste); or salsamentum (salsa). (13)

The third flavor was sweet.  The most popular source for this flavor was honey (mel) that came from flowers.  Each farm had beehives and some even specialized in honey production.  Syrup from must was also popular.  Fruit (poma) was finely grounded into a paste; the most popular being dates and plums, and then figs and raisins.  Sugar was introduced to the Empire from Arabia, but was usually used for medicinal purposes. (14)

The fourth and final flavor was bitter which can be provided through the use of certain spices, seeds, and dry herbs.  Herbs were also used in Roman cuisine and included rue, cumin, mint, basil, thyme, dill, mustard, and poppy to name a few.  Spices included cinnamon, ginger, clove, pepper, and cardamon.  Other popular ingredients in Roman cuisine were olive oil, perfume, and cheese. (15)

Patrick Faas' work captured my attention because it served as a stepping stone to Roman cuisine.  This is also why it differed from previous sources I have looked at because the others looked at the Roman garden specifically; this book takes us into the kitchen.  The only issue I had with Faas' work was that it did not have many illustrations; I am a visual learner and I thought it would have been helpful. In the future I am aiming on looking at specific dishes and see how/watch specific plants the Romans used in those dishes.  I would also like to try and cook a Roman dish and blog about it! 

The Gardens of Pompeii

Welcome back to yet another blog on Roman Gardens! This weeks blog is interesting and different from previous ones in that it focuses on the gardens of the Roman city of Pompeii.  The source I used this week was Wilhemina F. Jeshemski's The Gardens of Pompeii: Herculaneum and the Villas Destroyed by Vesuvius.  What makes Jeshemski's book special is that it is based on archaeological studies of the horticultural and agricultural life of Roman Pompeii.  Pompeii is perhaps one of the best preserved cities of the Roman Empire and I will discuss why below.

Legend has it that Pompeii (and Herculaneum) were founded by Hercules (Greek hero) when he was returning from Spain.  Pompeii was attacked by the Romans in 89 BC by General Sulla and in 80 BC it became a Roman colony.  A year later the city was covered by lapilli (also known as tephra or volcanic ash) after the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius.  The Greek geographer Strabo, who lived during Christ's Existence, claims Pompeii to have been previously occupied by Oscans, Etruscans, Pelasgians, Samnites, and finally the Romans.  Since the site is preserved by lapilli, the earliest remains that were recovered date back to the 6th c. and are Greek. (1)

The volcanic eruption may have destroyed much of the city and killed many people, but as mentioned before it preserved much of the city and it also provided the city with fertile soil!  The preservation of the city allows us to look at every aspect of the city's layout.  The majority of the gardens recovered at Pompeii are located inside homes and public buildings.  What makes Pompeii unique is that its plan directly used the environment that surrounded it.  For example it used the volcanic hill as it boundary on its west, south, and east sides.  The city was also planned out well because of the way its streets and sidewalks were set up.  Streets varied in width and sidewalks were well above ground to make it easier for transportation when the streets flooded.  The city was filled with food and wine shops, restaurants, inns, hotels, and stables; the last three were usually located near public areas, like the city gates, forum, and amphitheater to accommodate visitors. (2)

Roman shop: Facade of the House of Trebius Valens from The Gardens of Pompeii by Wilhemina F. Jeshemski.

When it comes to homes and gardens the preservation of Pompeii makes this very interesting.  From the outside all the homes looked alike, but inside they varied.  All the homes were built so close together that all that separated them was a wall in which they shared.  City blocks that were divided by a street were referred to as insulae.  The orientation of Pompeian homes was inward.  In other words, the home was built around the garden to protect it.  The windows of homes that faced the street were small and high, some even had bars, to protect the home from strangers.  As I mentioned in earlier blogs, the Roman word for the garden was the hortus.  During the Roman period, the hortus was very important to the heredum, or family estate.  The Italic house was also the most popular type of house used during this time.  The best preserved is the House of the Surgeon (4th-3th c. BC), called this because of all of the preserved surgical tools found inside.  Its rooms were oriented around the atrium, or central court, as illustrated below. (3)

Atrium during rain, House of the Silver Wedding from The Gardens of Pompeii by Wilhemina F. Jeshemski.

In my starting paragraph I mentioned that Jeshemski looks at Pompeii in an archaeological sense and because of this she explains the actual process of recovering a site and figuring out which plants, flowers, etc. were planted there.  The first step archaeologists took was to carefully remove the lapilli until they reached the level of earth that dated to 79 BC (Vesuvius' eruption).  The next step was to careful empty out the root cavity with specialized tools, reinforce it with heavy wire, and fill it with cement. They then allowed the cement to sit for about three days until it hardened.  The final step was to remove the soil around the cast and thus the shape of the ancient root would be revealed.  This allowed archaeologist to figure out what was planted in the Pompeian gardens, which then allowed for more details about Roman gardening.  The process is depicted below. (4)

Garden excavations at Pompeii from The Gardens of Pompeii by Wilhemina F. Jeshemski.

As for the life in the Pompeian garden, it is pretty much the same as it would've been in other Roman cities.  People ate while reclining on triclinia, or dining couches, and only children, slaves, and travelers were allowed to eat sitting.  The Romans adopted this tradition of reclining during meals from the Greeks.  I have mentioned in earlier blogs that triclinia were shaped like the letter "u" and were composed of three couches, each of which could have seated three people.  The kitchens in Pompeian homes were small, and in larger homes they were located far from the garden.  The reason for this being the assumption that if you afford a big house, you could afford servants to run around for you. The actual cooking was done on a small hearth, with a fire of charcoal built beneath the cooking pot and which rested on a tripod.  Since most Romans had gardens, all the supplies needed for cooking were readily available. The Romans main meal was called the cena and it was three-part.  First came the gestus, or appetizers.  Then was the mensa prima (cena proper), and lastly the mensa secunda (dessert).  In terms of actual cook books, only one survives that dates back to the 4th or early 5th c. by M. Gavius Apicius. (5)

In Pompeii music played a big role while dining. The music was of course a form of entertainment that included instruments and a chorus.  Jeshemski says, "Romans, unlike Greeks, did not have a tradition of music, and at first they depended on slaves or professional musicians."  Wall paintings, mosaics, and preserved instruments provide us with detailed information on the use of music in gardens.  For one, paintings and mosaics depict cupids playing instruments, while they also show how certain instruments were associated with specifics gods.  For example, the cithara was associated with Apollo and pipes were associated with the cult of Dionysus. (6)

In many paintings women are depicted as doing work in the garden like spinning wool.  Children are shown playing, but usually only in certain parts of the gardens.  Dogs are shown guarding the entrances of gardens, while birds roam freely and fish swim in the fish ponds. (7)

Wall painting of a dog from a caupona on the Via dell' Abbondanza from The Gardens of Pompeii by Wilhemina F. Jeshemski.

The inns, restaurants and hotels of Pompeii are noteworthy to discuss.  Inns were usually located near the city walls to accommodate visitors.  They had gardens with cushioned triclinium and a pergola covered by vines to provide shade.  The most popular Pompeian hotel was the House of Sallust which was later converted to commercial uses.  It had a shop at the left of its entrance that sold food and drinks.  Its garden could be viewed from the outside through the windows.  It was easy to view it from the outside because it was three steps higher than the rest of the house.  It was fairly small which only left room for flowers.  It contained a painted wall in the background in order to make it look bigger.  The painting depicted three fountains with a fence surrounded by trees and shrubs. (8)

Wall painting from the House of Sallust from The Gardens of Pompeii by Wilhemina F. Jeshemski.

One of the areas Jeshemski excavated at Pompeii was the Caupona of Euxinus (a food shop) because it was covered with a thick growth of vegetation.  On this site Jeshemski and others found many cavities filled with lapilli.  They emptied the cavities and discovered the diameter of each to be 14 inches.  All together they found 34 cavities, 32 of which ended up being those from grapevines and 2 were from trees.  This vineyard and many like it were important in supplying wine to the city, and in this particular case to the Caupona of Euxinus.  Other areas of the city were also excavated and revealed other vineyards which shows the importance of them in Roman culture.  Some of the best literary evidence for viticulture (the science, production, and study of grapes) come from the following authors:  Pliny the Elder's encyclopedia; Cato's De agri-cultura (234-149 BC) which contains comments and directions for administration of a farm; Varro's (116-27 BC) De re rustica which he wrote at 80 years old to serve as a manual to his wife; Columella's De re rustica, three of the twelve books discuss viticulture; and Virgil's Georgics, a poem that discusses agriculture. (9)

The flower industry in Pompeii seemed to be one of great importance.  Pompeii itself was the center for flower cultivation because of how fertile the soil was.  There was high demand for flowers for festivals, birthdays, weddings, games, and funerals.  Garlands were most commonly used for honoring gods, as gifts to dinner guests, and flowers were used to decorate altars during a sacrifice.  According to Pliny the Elder there were three different kinds of flowers that were used for garlands, the rose, the lily, and the violet (same order as importance).  Wall paintings provide us with evidence that there were flower shops in Pompeii.  Wood did not survive the eruption of Vesuvius which makes it difficult to identify these flower shops.  Flowers were used for other purposes as well.  One was to make perfumes where the rose was the most popular scent.  They were also used to make honey, the natural sweetener for Romans, and medicine.  The main ingredient for the latter was the rose, but other important plants were salvia, portulaca, and aster. (10)

Salvia grown at Pompeii from The Gardens of Pompeii by Wilhemina F. Jeshemski.

Jeshemski's book is a very good example of Roman horticulture, and even agriculture, because of all the hard evidence it provides.  Pompeii is in my opinion the best Roman city to look at for evidence of Roman gardens because of how well preserved the city is.  The Gardens of Pompeii differed from other sources I have used because of its archaeological discussion of Roman gardens and its focus on Pompeii.  I enjoyed that Jeshemski, like many other authors, referred to the works of Roman gardeners to support her information.  I also enjoyed all the pictures she provides in her book.  Her discussion of the flower industry was also unique because it has not been discussed in any of the other sources I have looked at.  

In terms of my overall project everything seems to be going smoothly.  I am actually looking forward to the next couple of weeks because I have gotten a hold books that contain recipes of Roman cooking.  Perhaps I can cook something up and blog about it!