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.
‘THE EPIC’ Cuneiform Rolling Pin: The Epic of Gilgamesh. Bring a bit of Babylonia to the holiday table this December and produce the world’s earliest known surviving work of literature in gingerbread. C’mon, Enkidu, it’ll be totally epic!
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.
It’s Christmas in Mesopotamia! Bake like a Babylonian and make the internet’s most popular holiday season biscuit with this custom-designed cuneiform gingerbread rolling pin exclusively available through Tavola Mediterranea.
Explore one of the many forms and symbologies involving ancient Greek bread with ‘Demeter’s Daughter’: a recipe for a 2,000-year-old loaf of bread that was shaped to resemble a Greek trireme. Ramming speed!
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!
Hey good looking! Whatcha got cooking? How’s about cooking up ancient bread with me?… There has been a particular theme that has consistently presented itself during my research this summer, and it’s called ‘continuity’. In archaeology, continuity is a term used to connote the unbroken or consistent existence, operation, or […]
Savillum meets Kalitsounia in this 2,500-year-old recipe for a sumptuous goat-cheese and honey cake fit for a banquet…. or for a midnight snack following a raucous game of kottabos!
Hey, good looking! Whatcha got cooking? So… I took a break this week from preparing for this summer’s presentations and cooking workshops in Italy to get back into the kitchen where I could indulge in what I call ‘procrastibaking‘. This sometimes happens when I have a writing deadline or lot […]
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!
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).
