This event has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic and associated health and safety precautions and travel restrictions. “On a balmy, starlit night more than 40 people are seated at a table that runs the length of the inner courtyard of Castello di Potentino, a medieval castle in southern […]
Join food archaeologist, Farrell Monaco for a 5-day live-in edible archaeology master class at the palatial Castello di Potentino, a medieval castle hidden in a valley in the Tuscan countryside, as we explore the food history and archaeology of Etruria, Magna Graecia, and Rome from 800 BC to the Imperial Roman Era (AD 476). May 31- June 6, 2020 – Monte Amiata (Tuscany), Italy.
Make Roman smoked cheese from start-to-finish the same way it was once made in The Velabrum: ancient Rome’s bustling food market district.
Relinquish the ‘relish’, the wine, and the olive oil with this flavour-packed, aromatic 2,000-year-old Roman recipe for a naturally-leavened whole-grain panis quadratus loaf that incorporates poppy seeds, fennel and parsley.
Get the git out with this 2,000-year-old recipe for a fragrant, naturally-leavened Roman bread that incorporates Roman coriander. History is delicious!
Good day, good coqui! Are you ready to drop everything that you’re doing right now to work on something that is far more important than taxes and way more delicious than that boring old salad you’re about to make? Because I know I am. Taxes be gone! The kitchen calls […]
Give praise to the Roman oven goddess with Mola Salsa: spelt and salt wafers that were made during the annual festival of Fornacalia. All hail Fornax!
A Culinary Retreat Exploring Ancient Etruscan and Roman Food Culture In The Heart of Tuscany Join food archaeologist, Farrell Monaco, and visual story-teller, Saghar Setareh, for a 5-day live-in edible archaeology master class at a palatial medieval castle hidden in a valley in the Tuscan countryside as they explore the […]
Good day, coqui! It’s getting a bit chilly on the old latifundium, isn’t it? Not such a bad thing, really. It simply means that it’s time to start cooking some hot, carbohydrate-rich meals that stick to the ribs… ancient Roman-style! Up here in the northern hemisphere the days are growing […]
Explore the integral role of draft-animals in Roman bread bakeries and one of the many uses for grape must in this 2,000-year-old recipe for a sweet and savoury grape-based bread biscuit.
Salvete, good readers! What a month it has been! A wonderful summer field season has come to a close, I completed a good amount of research in the bakeries at Pompeii, and this blog has been nominated for Best Special Interest Food Blog by Saveur Magazine for the 2018 Blog […]
Good day, good readers! Summer is drawing to a close, the days are slowly getting cooler, and the season of sweaters is just around the corner! While it brings tears to my eyes to say goodbye to Italy for another summer well spent… there’s something wonderful awaiting us in the […]
About the author:
Farrell Monaco is an award-winning Classical archaeologist and food-writer whose research centers on food, food preparation, and bread in the Roman Mediterranean. She writes regularly on the role of food and food preparation in Roman daily life on her site, Tavola Mediterranea, and publishes in both English and Italian. Farrell has also written exclusively for Atlas Obscura and BBC Travel. Her work has been featured prominently by National Geographic, Popular Science, The Atlantic, the BBC, The Guardian, The Economist, Esquire Magazine, SAPIENS Magazine, Verve Magazine, Saveur Magazine and Milk Street. In November of 2020, Farrell co-produced, wrote and presented a video on the history of the date palm fruit with The Getty Museum (Los Angeles, USA).
