Food

Introduction

This model of a Roman kitchen is located in Aquincum, a Roman fort which grew into a town, located on the Danube near Budapest, Hungary (photo by J.Jahnige, 1999)

It is hard to envision a time in the western world when there was not bread. Today bread comes in all sizes, colors and shapes. Some enjoy a crusty baguette from France, others a flat Syrian bread and still others sliced white bread. In the western world, bread has traditionally been one of the most common and necessary forms of food. From the earliest days and its simplest forms, it symbolized life. But have you ever considered how bread came to be? Making bread, both leavened and unleavened, is a complex task. Our ancestors ate wild grass seeds and wild grains. Somehow it was discovered that by grinding the seeds between rocks, the 'flour' could be roasted on a hot rock and a crude bread was the result. It is astonishing to consider that someone had to realize first that the grain was edible and in time bring it to what we know of as bread. Historical evidence indicates that bread was enjoyed on a large scale from as early as the 3000 BC in the urban societies of Egypt and Iraq. A millstone, considered by archaeologists to date some 7500 years ago, provides evidence that some form of ground grains had been used long before however. The wild grass, which developed into wheat, is still unknown. The wheat grain needed to be separated from the chaff. I suspect a method, not unlike what I saw in China in 1997, was probably used. I saw people using a handmade broom to break down the wheat grass and separate out the grain.

Pictures of Roman Kitchens from archeological sites in Ostia, Italy:

Breadmaking Links

• The story behind a loaf of bread
  A British baking company presents a very detailed and informative story of 'bread'.
• A Timeline of the History of Bread - from the Federation of Bakers
• Roman bread recipes from KET

Sources:

Sources for all content:

• http://www.orderbread.com/more3/historyofbread.html
• www.nattueswirkd,freeserve.co.uk/bread.htm
• A Day in Old Rome by William Stearns Davis, Biblo-Moser - no copyright date pp 103-4
• The Frugal Gourmet Cooks Three Ancient Cuisines, Jeff Smith, Avon Books, NY, 1991 pp 544,555, 556 The
• Technology in the Time of Ancient Rome
• The Classical Cookbook, Andrew Calby and Sally Grainger, J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. 1996 pp. 10, 52
• Handbook to Life in Ancient Rome, Lesley Adkins and Roy A. Adkins, Oxford Press, NY, 1994 pp. 326,327, 343

Joan Jahnige, September 2000 (revised 2006)

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