Ongoing. Please email: [email protected] to inquire. Explore the history of ancient Rome’s river ports and the city’s once bustling food distribution quarter with experimental archaeologist and food-writer, Farrell Monaco. Then cook an authentic Roman dinner using the three key ingredients in the ancient Roman diet: Grapes, Grains and Olives. This […]
Ongoing. Please email: [email protected] to inquire. Explore the history of Roman bread-making with experimental archaeologist and food-writer, Farrell Monaco, this summer in Rome, Italy. Join Farrell Monaco for a day of touring and recreating the culinary history of ancient Rome. Spend the morning touring the ancient bakeries, granaries and eateries […]
Because sometimes a plain old biscuit calls for some ancient Assyrian script.
Salvete omnes! Who among you has a craving for sweets today? If that’s you, then you’re going to love this week’s recipe. Last week I posted an article on ancient Roman sweets comparing my sweet tooth to that of Cato the Elder in an attempt to prove to myself that […]
Good day, good readers! Salvete amici! I don’t know about you but I’ve developed a serious sweet-tooth lately. Perhaps it’s the cold weather?… Perhaps my blood-sugar is low?… Whatever it is, I’ve been putting my hand into the cookie jar a few times too many. So much so that I’m […]
Salvete amici! The season of stew is upon us and I couldn’t be happier! Up here in the northern hemisphere the days are growing cooler, nighttime is arriving earlier, and people are starting to naturally shift into the ‘home cocooning mode’ that tends to start as autumn sets in. During […]
Salvete amici! It’s officially autumn and summer is over but I’m okay with that! Really I am. I had a wonderful summer this year working at Pompeii with the Pompeii Food & Drink Project, eating out at Caupona, snorkelling over a 2,000-year-old Roman villa at Baia, and eating my way […]
Salvete Amici! 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 […]
**This article and the ongoing research has been updated further here: Baking Bread with the Romans: Part III – The Panis Strikes Back and here: The Panis Quadratus – The Key Ingredients: Pompeii Bread with Poppy Seed, Fennel and Parsley ** Friends, Romans, Baking Enthusiasts: Lend me your ears! …. Who […]
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 […]
Salvete amici! 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 Romans […]
Okay, before I even start with a brief historical introduction to this recipe I am going to start by telling you to take a deep breath and open your minds and hearts to potatoes on pizza. First of all, as North Americans or Britons or anyone else that lives outside […]
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).
