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While doing this “fascinating” project I found out many things about Ancient Romans. The main staple of their diets, especially for the poor, was very watered down wine and bread. They drank this watered down wine with every meal and put wine in many of their dishes. They also liked mead and bear.
Honey was used in most dishes as a sweetener, sugar was rarely used. They also ate a lot of cheese but no milk. Drinking plain milk or plain wine was considered barbaric. The poor ate a lot of gruel and hardly ever meat, but the rich did eat some meat. There were no refrigerators so anything that needed kept cold was either heavily salted or fairly fresh. Mostly people ate whatever was available.
Food was actually like today’s food except much simpler, also they didn’t have many things that weren’t indigenous to their country. So they couldn’t have things like Avocado
Blueberries
Cranberry
Strawberry
Chokecherry
Concord grape
Cactus pear
Grapefruit
Guava
Papaya
Passion fruit
Pineapple
Bell peppers
Chile peppers
Pumpkins
Winter squashes
Summer squashes
Tomatillo
Tomato
Amaranth
Corn (maize)
Quinoa
Wild rice
Green beans
Kidney beans
Lima beans
Peanut
Chocolate
Sassafras
Vanilla
Arrowroot
Jerusalem artichoke
Jicama
Potato
Sweet Potato
Black walnut
Brazil nut
Hickory nut
Macadamia
•Pecan

Rome did have diners, it is believed that during the Republic most women and the poor ate sitting on chairs, while upper class males reclined on their sides on couches along three sides of a table. Doing this is called a triclinium. Banquets might last for hours, eating and watching or listening to entertainers, so being able to stretch out without shoes, and relax would have enhanced the experience. Since there were no forks, diners would not have had to worry about coordinating eating utensils in each hand. Being a chef was difficult because they didn’t have ovens with heat controls and most recipes only gave very vague cooking times because of this.
Romans had 3 meals a day, but the poor would usually only eat 2 one of which would be small. For those who could afford it, breakfast was eaten very early, and could consist of salted bread, wine, and dried fruit, eggs or cheese. Lunch was a quick meal, eaten around noon could include salted bread or be more elaborate with fruit, salad, eggs, meat and fish, vegetables, and cheese. Dinner was the main meal of the day, they would drink watered down wine, onions, porridge, pancake, and some of the things they ate at lunch. The upper class dinner might include meat, vegetable, egg, and fruit. Comissatio was a final wine course when the dinner ended. Movies sometimes depict ancient Romans as gluttons, but this is not true. Even the rich people ate only enough to keep them in good health, and wasted little food. There were even laws that regulated how much food people could buy.

Appetizers

1as Bread and Cheese -
A Selection of Breads and Rome’s finest Cheeses

1as Salad -
A fine salad tossed with just the right amount of vinegar and salts.

Drinks
2as White wine –
Watered wine of the finest quality

2as Red wine –
Watered wine of the finest quality

3as Mead –
Watered wine sweetened with honey

1as Beer –
Made from hops cooked right in the village

The Roman Glutton
(De roman Gluto)

Entrées

6as Roast Pig –
Pig slowly cooked on a spit by one of our best chefs.

3as Pottage –
Thick stew made from wheat, meat, offal, and corn.

7as Sea urchins, raw oysters, and mussels –
This wonderful combo is the best of what the local fishermen bring in.

7as Veal –
A tender delicacy that is as good as it is cruel

1as Barley Gruel –
For the folk with a bit less in their wallets

Desserts

1as Mixed fruit –
A mixture of fruits that are in season.

4as Cheese cake –
Cake made with the finest Ricotta Cheese