Salvete Amicis! Non semper erit aestas….It will not always be summer. Alas, winter is coming…. just like it always does. And just like that we’ll put the bathing suits and flip-flops away for another year and get out our woolens and fire-wood instead. But that’s okay! Because good things come […]
Friends, Romans, Baking Enthusiasts: Lend me your ears! …. Who wants to make Pompeiian Bread? If you do then you’ve come to the right place. Many of us have seen the iconic images of carbonised loaves of bread that were excavated from Pompeii, Herculaneum, and other settlements in the Bay […]
Give us this day our daily bread — and a good bread starter is what we need to make it. But what’s a bread starter, you say? A bread starter, pasta madre, or levain, is what we have used to make bread for millenia long before active dry (instant granulated) baker’s […]
Salve amicis meis! This ancient recipe is one that I am particularly proud of. It’s challenging and it’s delicious, and there’s nothing I love more than a tasty challenge! Cheese-making is often considered an artisanal craft that is trying, difficult and messy but it’s really not! And we have the […]
Friends, Romans, Countrymen: Lend me your ears… and your culinary curiosity… because this week’s ancient recipe is a very unique one. It’s Cato the Elder’s recipe for ‘Libum‘ from “De Agri Cultura” and it is, quite literally, like nothing I have ever tasted before and it is delightful! It’s almost […]
This summer I had the privilege of working on the Pompeii Food & Drink Project (PFaDP) for its final field season. For those who are not familiar with the project, Dr. Betty-Jo Mayeske and a team of archaeologists and historians have been painstakingly working at Pompeii (Pompei, Italy) for 17 […]
As a part of ‘The Life of Food’ series we are presenting a group of ancient recipes based on food history gleaned from archaeological data, ancient documentary records, and art. The following recipe was developed by researching theories on the origins of the ubiquitous conventional durum pasta secca, its arrival in the Mediterranean, […]
Sounds kind of threatening, doesn’t it? Cement shoes… Calabrian Ricotta Balls…. Fuggetaboutit? I think not! These little tesori will be the best ammo you’ll have in your arsenal the next time you have to cook for the family! It took me a while to release this recipe because I wanted to keep […]
To see the Amalfi Coast for the first time is absolutely breath-taking; the colour of the sky and the sea seems that much bluer there than it does anywhere else in the world. The sun seems to set with such majesty over the Tyrrhenian Sea, and the sound of cathedral […]
The culinary use of lemons is often limited to garnishes, desserts or liqueurs. But this citrus fruit can do so much more than simply flavour water and liquor and it was eating and cooking in Ravello, Italy that taught me this. The Amalfi Coast isn’t just home to beaches, sun […]
About the author: Farrell Monaco is a lover of history, travel, cooking, dogs, books, bread and baths… and not necessarily in that order.
Farrell is a member of EXARC, the Society for American Archaeology, and currently sits on the SAA Media Relations Committee.
