- Paperback: 244 pages
- Publisher: University of Chicago Press; New edition edition (1 Feb 1994)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0226290328
- ISBN-13: 978-0226290324
- Product Dimensions: 2.4 x 1.5 x 0.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 890,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
Modern Italians still refer to an elaborate dinner as "a meal worthy of Lucullus, " commemorating a Roman general famous more for culinary prowess than any apparent military skill. And our images of ancient Rome usually do include one of an outrageous feast of camel and flamingoes and nightingales' tongues. But, as Ilaria Giacosa reminds us in this fascinating book, Romans did not eat the exotic every day. Here are the real foods of Rome - the rustic and the refined - in more than 200 tested recipes adapted for today's kitchen. Drawing on the writings of Apicius, Cato, Martial, Petronius, Juvenal, and other observers, Giacosa recreates a 2,000-year-old cuisine, from a hearty winter soup of barley and ham to an elegant salad of truffles in an herbed vinaigrette, from appetizers to desserts. Each recipe includes the original (in Latin and translation) and a modern rendering, with substitutions for difficult-to-find ingredients. The repertoire is wide and includes along with more exotic creations solid, satisfying dishes that still grace many Italian tables: a frittata or omelet of young asparagus and sharp Romano cheese; roast chicken with leeks and a garden of green herbs; a salad with peasant bread and cracked olives; and a fresh cheese pie scented with bay and honey. You'll find recipes for breads, porridges, and sauces, including the ever-present garum, which, Giacosa notes, is not very different from the soy and fish sauces of Asia; a guide to preserving fruits and vegetables; seasonal menus for everyday and elegant dining; and a rich social history of Roman eating, drinking, shopping, and entertaining. This is cooking before tomatoes, pasta, oranges, lemons, or even coffee enteredthe Mediterranean diet. Yet with its intriguing sweet-sour flavor combinations, its lavish use of fresh herbs and fragrant spices, and its base in whole grains and fruits and vegetables, the foods of Rome will be a revelation to serious cooks ready to create new dishes in the spiri
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Anyone attempting to study ancient Roman nutrition and cooking must deal with countless sources that differ widely among themselves. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Anyone attempting to study ancient Roman nutrition and cooking must deal with countless sources that differ widely among themselves. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Interesting book, but it shows a bit that it was written a while ago. The recipes are not incredibly detailed in their steps, but still easy to do at home.
6 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The author seems to have studied quite well all that's related to Roman food, specially through Apicious's classic "The Art of Dining". Her updated recipes of ancient food are remarkable and inviting to follow. However, in several instances she gives totally wrong information about the origins of certains ingredientes and this certainly has a negative impact on the otherwise interesting general idea.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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10 reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful
Scholarship you can sink your teeth into
10 Jun 2000
Format:Paperback
Although "A Taste of Ancient Rome" presents another translation of some ancient Roman recipes, this work is not just an historical curiousity. First, it provides some of the yummiest lamb recipes I've ever tasted (who knew the Parthians for epicures?). Second, there are quite a few spice and sauce combinations that were apparently lost with the Visigoths, and they're definitely worth reviving. Although a few of the recipes are a bit outlandish, most of them are easily prepared and very tasty. I use this book all the time as a practical cookbook. And, of course, for dinner parties, it's a great item of conversation.
36 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Delicious recipes and a fascinating look at ancient Rome
1 Sep 2005
Format:Hardcover
I bought "A Taste of Ancient Rome" more out of historical interest than out of any real desire to prepare foods in the Roman style. One day, though, I ended up being given six frozen mallard ducks, and one of the recipes in this book, Duck with Turnips, caught my eye. I tried it, and it was absolutely amazing. Since that day I've prepared over half of the recipes in this book, and I've found most of them to be delicious, easy to prepare, and economical.
One of the more enjoyable facets of international cooking is seeing how cooks from different cultures meld flavours in a way most of us in North America would never think of. The recipes in this book contain many combinations that would seem to us to be insane. Duck with turnips? Cream of wheat or spelt with a ham bone? Cantaloupe with garlic and pepper? Tuna steak with dates? These blends sounds very bizarre, but they all work, and work well.
The writer has included a few recipes which couldn't be prepared in our time (such as the recipe calling for parrot!) simply to show the decadence of first-century Rome. But what surprised me the most about the other recipes is how many of them are absolutely accessible to the modern chef. One reason for this is the fact that the ingredients unfamiliar to us can for the most part be easily substituted with ingredients we have on hand. Apparently, even some Romans (Pliny the Elder, for instance) hated garum and substituted salt, so it's not inauthentic for us to do so. Another reason is simply that we still eat many of the foods the Romans did. Although they didn't have pasta, tomatoes, potatoes, soy, corn, or any of the other foods borrowed from the Far East or the New World, they did have most of the meats, fruits, nuts, and vegetables we eat on a daily basis.
That said, this book is not for everybody. There seems to be a subset of North Americans who eat nothing but conventional, middle-of-the-road food and who have no interest in anything the least bit unusual or new. If you shop for all your groceries at Wal-Mart, if you turn down any food that isn't aggressively conservative as being weird, foreign, or disgusting, and if TGIFridays or Appleby's is your idea of a really good restaurant, you probably won't enjoy this book. However, if you are able to go beyond your food comfort level and especially if you're interested in how people ate 2,000 years ago, A Taste of Ancient Rome might be for you.
One of the more enjoyable facets of international cooking is seeing how cooks from different cultures meld flavours in a way most of us in North America would never think of. The recipes in this book contain many combinations that would seem to us to be insane. Duck with turnips? Cream of wheat or spelt with a ham bone? Cantaloupe with garlic and pepper? Tuna steak with dates? These blends sounds very bizarre, but they all work, and work well.
The writer has included a few recipes which couldn't be prepared in our time (such as the recipe calling for parrot!) simply to show the decadence of first-century Rome. But what surprised me the most about the other recipes is how many of them are absolutely accessible to the modern chef. One reason for this is the fact that the ingredients unfamiliar to us can for the most part be easily substituted with ingredients we have on hand. Apparently, even some Romans (Pliny the Elder, for instance) hated garum and substituted salt, so it's not inauthentic for us to do so. Another reason is simply that we still eat many of the foods the Romans did. Although they didn't have pasta, tomatoes, potatoes, soy, corn, or any of the other foods borrowed from the Far East or the New World, they did have most of the meats, fruits, nuts, and vegetables we eat on a daily basis.
That said, this book is not for everybody. There seems to be a subset of North Americans who eat nothing but conventional, middle-of-the-road food and who have no interest in anything the least bit unusual or new. If you shop for all your groceries at Wal-Mart, if you turn down any food that isn't aggressively conservative as being weird, foreign, or disgusting, and if TGIFridays or Appleby's is your idea of a really good restaurant, you probably won't enjoy this book. However, if you are able to go beyond your food comfort level and especially if you're interested in how people ate 2,000 years ago, A Taste of Ancient Rome might be for you.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
An accessible and enjoyable cookbook and history book.
12 Aug 2002
Format:Paperback
Here we have a small collection of redacted Roman recipes, along with explanations of ingredients and concepts and some modern adaptations.
Frankly, I think it was quite cool. I particularly got a lot out of the explanation of garum -- it really changed my mind about a lot of things I used to think about Roman food.
The few recipes I've tried from here turned out well, though I'm not sure I'd want to try them all. Some sound a bit bizarre and are probably included as a culture-shock device. For the average home cook, I'm not sure I'd consider this a must-have unless that cook were very VERY adventurous. But for the historian looking for a sourcebook, this looks like a keeper. Thoroughly enjoyable and well-written.
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