This article gives information on Roman Fast Food and ancient Roman dishes.
Roman Fast Food
Background on ancient Roman fast food
It’s strange to know but the excavators, as per the findings in Pompeii, have claimed that the Romans were much influenced by fast food. The excavators say that the busy citizens would have their meals on the stone counters termed as Thermopolis and serve the fried or roasted meat along with the stews in the built-in casks in the counters.
It is also studied that the travelers used to have the take-out meals from the restaurants on their way. These restaurants were found to be at regular intervals along the highways. Many such ancient roadside dinner inns were found during the excavations.
It was a tradition that the Romans followed in which the slaves used to serve the exotic roman dishes at the carousels. The lavish royal feasts and orgies were very common to the rich and Royal Romans whereas the ordinary people had ordinary food which is much similar to what Romans have today.
Roman Fast Food Dishes and Ingredients
The ancient Roman dishes mostly comprised of roast meat. Romans preferred to have roast pork in various spicy sauces. Sometimes the pork that was cooked with cheese along with dried dates and sweet nuts.
Mushrooms were a major ingredient of the omelets. The desserts including cheesecakes and fresh or dried figs or other fruits in custard were most commonly a part of Royal dinners.
Romans usually liked to cook roman dishes in fish sauce named as Garum. The most interesting ingredient of the Roman dishes was the mixture of oil, fish sauce, honey and wine that gave a nice sweet and tangy taste to the food. Romans used to prepare a special kind of wine by boiling it to one-third of its volume and mixing it with honey.
This preparation was termed as Caroenum. There was another preparation named Defrutum which was prepared by mixing two or more thick fruit syrups. It was a kind of Roman marmalade.
Garum was used to add a salty taste to any preparation. The brine or light fish sauce was another variety of Roman dishes. Sometimes a pinch of salt can be a substitute for fish sauce.
Roman fast food: Facts
The ancient Roman fast food cannot be complete without a banquet. The banquet is the grand dinner that the Royal Romans used to have. The roman dishes that were served in the banquet were rich with flavors and spices. Appetizers in the banquet included eggs and jellyfish. The Sow’s udders with a stuffing of salted sea urchins was another variety of the Royal Appetizers.
Another roman dish that was served with the appetizers was the patina of brains sautéed with eggs. The Romans favorite was the boiled tree fungi cooked with fish sauce and pepper.
Roman Thermopolis
Ancient Romans would dine at the Thermopolis which served them with warmed wines and ancient Roman fast food varieties. As per the findings of the excavators, in the Far East, there was the range of such Thermopolis that served hot food.
Various taverna was also found which they could instantly recognize them as the small food shop which had a liquor license and served a variety of liquor. The middlemen or the lower class people would preferably have hot sausages, cheese, bread and dates accompanied with a wine.
