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Are You Curious About What The Ancient Romans Ate?
Omne ignotum pro magnifico.
Everything unknown seems magnificent.
— Tacitus, 55–120 AD, Roman historian
I don’t how my head works…my last article was about an ant walking around on my laptop. Today I’m many years back in time.
About Romans…
Imperial Romans ate three main meals a day:
Ientaculum in the morning. The Romans ate a breakfast of bread or a wheat pancake eaten with dates and honey. A typical ientaculum may include bread, fruit, and cheese.
Prandium midday. At midday they ate a light meal of fish, cold meat, eggs, bread, and vegetables.
Cena, the largest and latest meal. Also known as vesperna. The best dishes were saved for cena, which for the upper classes was a leisurely multi-course meal eaten while reclining on dining couches in a triclinium dining room.
What was eaten at each meal could vary greatly by social class and economic status.
There are 3 social classes in ancient Rome. They are patricians, plebeians, and slaves. The patricians are the highest and wealthiest of the social classes. Most patricians are aristocrats.
