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.
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 […]
Salvete Omnes! It’s time to tie the donkey to the quern-stone and roll up our toga sleeves once again… we have some ancient cooking to do! In the weeks to come, we’re going to be looking at some key areas of Roman food resources and this recipe is just the […]
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! 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, 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 […]
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).
