It’s worked thus far… Tea cosies on, England fans! Time for a halftime cuppa… ☕️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #England #worldcup2026 #fifaworldcup #teacosy #teatime ...

Let’s do this! Come on, England!! Tea cosies on!

#england #worldcup2026 #fifaworldcup ...

Tea cozies on = England in! 😃 I think we’re on to something here! Join us! 🫖 ☕️ 🇬🇧

#fifaworldcup2026 #worldcup #england #teacozy ...

Let’s do this!! Come on, England!! 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

#fifaworldcup2026 #england #worldcup2026 #soccer #football ...

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 #WorldCup #fifaworldcup #England ...

Tea cozy on my noggin seems to be working!! Come on, England!!! #England #Worldcup #FIFAWorldCup ...

Recently, the Archaeological Park of Pompeii announced the discovery of another equid (either a horse or a mule) within the Casa dei Casti Amanti: a luxurious domus whose front rooms had been converted into a commercial bakery. The news immediately reminded me of an article I wrote in 2019 about this remarkable house and the five equids discovered in a stable beside its bakery.

Finds like these always give me pause. They remind us that the story of Pompeii is also the story of the animals that lived and laboured alongside its people. They powered the mills that fed the town, and like many of their human companions, perished during the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.

Apuleius gives us one of the most vivid literary glimpses into the lives of these working animals in The Golden Ass, where Lucius is transformed into a bakery donkey:

“As for my comrades, the animals, what can I say? How can I describe their condition? What a sight! Those old mules and feeble geldings stood round the manger with their heads sunk down, munching through piles of chaff; their necks sagged from the rotting decay of sores; their flabby nostrils were distended from constant coughing; their chests were ulcerated from the continual rubbing of the rope harnesses; their flanks were bare to the bone from everlasting whipping, their hoofs stretched out to abnormal dimensions from their multiple circling, and their entire hide rough with decay and mangy starvation.”

Reading these words while thinking of the equids discovered at the Casa dei Casti Amanti is profoundly moving. The catilli did not turn themselves. Where water power was unavailable, horses and mules were the engines that transformed grain into flour and flour into bread.

In honour of these four-legged pistores, I turned once again to Roman baking and prepared Cato’s Grape Must Cakes.
Read more via link in bio or here:
https://tavolamediterranea.com/2018/09/22/baking-bread-romans-part-v-grape-must-cakes/

Photo: Farrell Monaco

#pompeii #archaeology #animals #bread #bakery ...