By Gabriel Carranza, Historian.
Roman feasts:
"an ode to excess."
· These banquets in the early I had made the point in a sample of social status that some high-class men would rather die than not be able to continue giving such feasts.
·
Dinner is served in quantities so abundant that some guests had to induce vomiting, through the famous ostrich feather, not to miss any dish.
While three quarters parts of the Roman Empire's population subsisted on bread, cheese and some other type of legume, the remaining quarter managed to spend much of the wealth of the empire in lavish and impressive feasts.
This custom was adopted by the ruling class to such an extent that made the Emperor Augustus decided in the early first century AD, to legislate on this subject, setting spending limits and sumptuousness of these banquets, before Unchecked excess.
But despite the effort, the situation got out of hand and this "cult" led to abuses so memorable in the same emperors who came after him. One
of the most renowned of those times was the emperor Caligula (37-41DC) that served at their banquets breads made with gold, or Claudius (41-54 AD) who invited his friends to endless feasts where he spent the night eating and drinking non-stop.
It was felt that the deranged Nero (54-68 AD) was binges that could last up to twenty hours and that often fell unexpectedly to dinner at friends' houses, leaving almost bankrupt due to their culinary eccentricities.
Emperor Maximian (235-238 AD) was remembered as one of the most greedy of his time, having swallowed 20 kilos of meat and 34 liters of wine in one day. But certainly one of the most renowned for his excesses was the Emperor Elagabalus (218-222 AD) who was busy serving dishes where fish and other meats were mixed with pearls, gold or crushed stone.
Such was the ambition of the Romans to try new and exotic dishes, the contemporary writer "Pliny the Elder", gave figures which Roma lost each year on luxury imports from the east.
According to the author, India, China and the Arabian Peninsula were taking nothing more nor less than 100 million sesterces a year from the coffers of the Empire.
"That was the amount payable for the pleasures of gluttony and lust that allowed the upper class. "
these banquets in the mid-century AD, had become a sign of social status and wealth, leading to degrees such as preferring death before they can no longer giving similar binges. Known in those days, was the case of wealthy gourmet Apicius, which the poet Martial, committed suicide when he realized he had squandered his fortune on trying to satisfy their insatiable appetite:
"After spending sixty million in his stomach at Apicius he had only ten million. An embarrassing situation worthy only say, merely to satisfy hunger and thirst. So his latest and most expensive meal was the poison ... Apicius never been greedy in the end "
(Martial, Epigrams III, XXII)
But what were the key considerations that had to follow a noble in the days of Empire, to a banquet in honor of the successful Gluttony?
First
a chef must have been able to fool your eyes and palate, disguising the food to look like something else. That is, going for a ride, or in this case, pork and poultry or veal. This cooks
or "Cocus" were regarded as true artists and if they were not slaves, were paid large sums for their services.
Petronio in his book "Satyricon" shows the pride he feels an owner, expertise and capacity of its Cocus in the kitchen, by passing a meat of an animal by another:
"... And we thought that came to the plate set before us was a greasy goose surrounded by fish and all kinds of birds. "Friends," said Trimalchio, everything you see used here was made from the flesh of one animal, so I can inflate my heritage and not the waist, if I do not cook all the pork. This man could not be more valuable. If you want you can make a fish of a stomach, a pigeon of Bacon (Bacon), a turtledove for a ham or a chicken, a pork knuckle ... "
Petronius, The Satyricon. Pg 57.
Second
have a full "staff" of slaves ready to fulfill a myriad of functions.
The "List" were slaves in charge of appointing the guests and tell them their places in order of importance, in the style of those pompous festivals that gave the English royalty in Victorian times, where servants dressed in livery and white wig, appointed the nobles who were arriving. Others had the task of gouging out the guests shoes, wash his feet, hands, and crown them with flowers perfuming.
-called "Ministratores", had the mission of serving food and satisfy even the whim to have a guest.
finally found the "A cyatho" or pourers. These, slaves, servants were chosen from the most beautiful and young, with the specific task of serving the best wine in the second part of the feast, known as the "Comissatio" or desktop and sometimes sought to stimulate other appetites to people.
final point successfully complete a Roman-style banquet at best, would be the food. This was served in such abundance that levels of even the most gluttonous in our day would have been impossible to pass the entrance. This practice, aimed to satisfy the hunger of the guests at this point to avoid rumors and gossip, in a world like ours, where the image was everything.
A good example of the dangers that could be affected a host, was being ridiculed in front of his countrymen in a satirical piece which made reference to his meanness when giving a banquet for his friends. This was felt in the flesh, such a fable and Mancino, who had unlucky not to satisfy the appetite of the writer Marcial:
"Yesterday, I admit, you gave an exquisite perfume to your guests, but nothing sideboards.
smell funny thing is well and die of hunger! The dinner and no perfume, Fable, I really think he is dead "
(Marcial III, XII)
" We were at home, Mancino, sixty guests and we were not served yesterday nothing more than a pig ... but also small, those that can kill a pygmy disarmed. And do not say anything, just look at all: in the sand "(the arena) also boar usually offer this way. After this feat, hopefully not serve you or a pig, but you're served the same Charidemus boar. "
(Marcial, III, XLIII)
To these banquets the rich occupied a room called" Triclinium "where diners reclined in three beds around a table, a tradition inherited from the Greeks, according to historians, of the Etruscans. This way of eating, we would be very uncomfortable, it was essential at the time, because it was a symbol of elegance and status. Only
rich could afford to take time to eat lying down.
The poor and slaves were content with sitting where they could eat or if they were lucky to have some money, eat at some of the many taverns that served lunch and dinner in the city streets.
But before trying a bite of dinner, it was essential to start the feast by libations and sacrifices to the gods of home and host, as some prayers for the welfare of the emperor. Thus the gods were honored with the first food from the banquet and was left quiet honor of the Emperor, approaching the same Olympics, with phrases like, "Auguste, country Patriae" (Good luck to the emperor, the father of our country) just after the gods.
The Romans were well aware of the dangers that could be hidden, often behind their own walls or between its own staff. Therefore, after leaving the gods happy and some who came to believe gods (many emperors came to be revered as true gods after his death.) Appeared as an aperitif or Gustatio, whose aim was to encourage appetite in diners through eggs, salads, fried sausage, mushrooms, olives, pickled fish and variety of seafood.
The first table or Fercula "was the main meal and could consist of 5 and sometimes more dishes, filled with all kinds of food, but mostly consists of meat. Among the most prized by the Romans were the hares, sheep, beef, venison and pork, the favorite of red meat.
However, the most passionate meat to the Roman upper class, was the fish. They had a great variety of them was such consumption and demand, which led to the creation of a successful and wealthy business incubators, in order, that even men who lived far from the sea could taste the freshness. Gaius
Hirrius, according to Pliny, was the first inventor of separate ponds for breeding eels. With these farms Gaius 6000 brunette contributed to the banquet, the Dictator Julius Caesar held to celebrate his victory against the Germans.
that this banquet was given such famous Gaius Hirrius nurseries that when he sold the smallest of its countryside properties, received 4,000,000 sesterces, only by way of fish ponds had on the property.
This love of fish of all types, led to such eccentricities, such as the famous orator Hortensius, who according to legend, was one of his ponds as big a brunette and rewarded, when he died, it is said that she shed or tears of a woman named Antonia, wife of a wealthy senator, who put some earrings in the dark he loved, making your house a tourist attraction, the jeweled brunette who lived there.
All fish or meat, were accompanied by vegetables, mashed potatoes, spices, but mostly for sauces. They could not miss on the food and tasted so strong that even the most determined and courageous stomachs of today would not have felt able to withstand some degree of disgust and revulsion.
The most famous of the sauces was known as "Galum." This sauce is created from the intestines of fry in the sun to rot. Subsequently salted and preserved in vinegar or brine to be used exclusively in the banquets more expensive and exclusive to the Roman elite.
But to plot a better way, quantity, variety and excess food, they could see one of these feasts, let the writer Petronius shows us one of the most explicit stories about one of these banquet in Roman times:
"... finally brought the first course, expendidísimo ... In a bowl was a Corinthian bronze donkey laden with bags containing a white, black olives, respectively. In the back carrying two silver plates, whose edges were engraved Trimalchio's name and weight of the metal. Arcos supported bridges as dormice seasoned with honey and poppy. Could be seen beyond sausages on grills silver and grills under Syrian plums and pomegranate seeds ... that kind of joy interrupted by the arrival of the second service ... It was a centerpiece in a globe, around which circle contained in the twelve signs of the Zodiac. The butler had placed on top of each delicacy which, by its nature or form had anything to do with the constellations: In Aries, had chickpeas in Taurus, a piece of thistle cow in Gemini, kidneys and testicles, in Cancer , a crown, in Leo, figs Africa, in Virgo, the matrix of a sow, in Libra, a scale that a template had a cake and another cake; in Scorpio, a minnow, in Sagittarius, a hare in Capricorn, a lobster, in Aquarius, a duck, in Pisces, two marine bards ... immediately ... approached the table and took four slaves ... the top of the globe. Suddenly discover delicacies selected: Mast birds, a tit pig, a hare with wings on his back, appearing a Pegasus. We also saw ... four satyrs with bottles, from which flowed streams of brine, which fell into a lake where fish floated spicy and ... "
Petronius, The Satyricon. Pg 61-62.
After that amount of food, it seems that the guests would no longer want to keep eating more, but it was not. Some were given to continue swallowing skill thanks to an effective system that was to become very popular with the Wolverines. Just needed a pen and a room called "Vomitarium"
Located in this room with a pen in skilled hands, could be quickly released the weight of the stomach, allowing the owner does not lose any new delicacy that appeared in the desert or "second table. "
This custom, which was not the norm for all dinners, led the philosopher Seneca (I DC) to say that the Romans: "vomiting for eating and eat to vomit."
Now, if you did not like vomit, but I could not eat more, there was another way to keep track of any new dish. I kept it in a napkin and took it home, in the same way as we do now, some restaurants when we asked the leftovers for the "spoiled the house."
At the end of the banquet, remote entrees were served dessert. These were made by all types of cakes, oysters, snails, cheese, raisins, chestnuts, peaches and apples. The latter was highly prized because it was said that all good feast was to leave eggs and finish with apples, as the poet Horace said: "Ad ovo usque ad bad" (from egg to the apple.)
Over dessert, the slaves would rush to remove the tables and Trying to clean food debris scattered around the room, to begin serving the wine flowed in large quantities.
was normal to drink little during the first part of the banquet, as it was thought that the food had lost the taste for wine and for this the best they took at the end.
The wine dinners used was called "Müslüm" or "mulsum" and was mixed with honey, aromatic herbs and drunk hot. Those who served in the second half, mixed with water, following the Greek tradition.
was frowned upon to take the pure wine, because of her strong alcohol is believed that consumption had extended to the madness as the Greeks said. Started
the vine, came the dancers, musicians, dwarfs and buffoons who cheered the feast with their dances, songs and antics.
among the guests was designated the king of the party responsible for deciding the amount of wine you would drink, and the degree of mixing it.
If the person chosen was quiet, the evening was spent in pleasant conversation and harmless games such as table and others. But if the choice was a party animal, the thing could lead to a great drunk, appeared with them dice and gambling, prohibited in those days, and other games so strange, like pitchers throwing wine with the intention of giving others.
we imagine the presence of alcohol in some of the players, it is strange to think that after a while, be formed backside of wine and other liquids in the beautiful mosaic floors commonly adorned the kitchen table of the upper class of Rome .
By the total debauchery was only one step, more alcohol. This, it was often honored with songs and toasts, such as "biber humanum est, ergo bibamus" (Drinking is good, then drink) "Prima ad shittim pertinet crater, secondary hilaritatem ad, ad voluptatem tertia, quarta ad insaniam" (The first cup is for thirst, the second to the joy, the third for pleasure, the fourth for insanity), or the explicit, "Qui Potaro oitestis bib, historical ab festis Procula ite, non est hic locus very modest" (which you can not drink, go away away from this party, this is no place for the timid). Although
Facilities as plotted in this article, were not daily bread at dinner Roman, it is clear that existed and which often came to excesses beyond our imagination.
Some locations where foodstuffs were exported wheat
Hispania, Egypt and Sicily. WINE
Hispania, The Adriatic, Galicia
Egypt. OIL
Hispania and North Africa. FISH
Black Sea. HONEY
Greece.
BREAD:
The importance of bread in the imperial capital was reflected by the 330 bakeries that existed at the turn of the century Rome. These were mostly led by master bakers Greeks considered the best of the Mediterranean world and their work was inherited from father to son.
had different kinds of bread depending on the quality of its flour. Was the "Pan Acerosus" which was one of the cheapest. Also among the cheapest was the brown bread made with flour called "Panis plebeius" being consumed by the poor and slaves. Among the best quality was the "Panis Candidus."
Era that the importance of bread in the Roman diet had even one made for the Army, by its own bakery called "Panis militaris
Another bread that was very popular in the metropolis was sweet. Had made with honey, oil and mixed with peppers, cumin and milk.
Such was the degree of importance that took on the Pan American society, which was immortalized by the famous phrase of the poet Juvenal: "Panem et Circus" Where exemplified the two main concerns of the Roman Plebs: The Bread and Circus .
WINE:
Although in the beginning of the Roman Republic, the wine it was very important in the diet, was only in the days of Empire when he created the need for a great trade that covered the entire Mediterranean.
The best wines were exported from Hispania, Egypt, North Africa. Some came from Gaul and the Adriatic. Given this strong competition, some wine producers of Italy preferred to produce wines of lesser quality, but more popular, as in the case of wines from Campania in the south of the peninsula.
wines were transported in amphorae that were sealed with corks and were labeled with the name of the consul and the date of the consulate where there was wine.
BEER: Beer was
known by the Romans because they were very common and are produced in abundance between the Egyptians and the Germans, but never massively among the Romans, it was considered a barbarian drink.
MEALS OF THE DAY:
Romans usually three meals a day.
THE JENTACULUM or BREAKFAST: That could be composed of bread, cheese and milk, but for many people just came to be a glass of water.
THE prandium: That was not very convincing is almost always served cold and was composed of bread, cold meats, vegetables and fruits. Many times it became a simple sandwich to the highest style of our "Fast Food"
DINNER: The only food you could say as such, was served in the evening and could become large banquets that lasted for hours
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