Pompeii began as a settlement of small fishing and agricultural communities. In 80 BCE, it was incorporated into the Roman Empire where it began a thriving commercial center. With easy access to the Mediterranean and proximity to Rome, Pompeii was a hub for trade throughout the empire.
On August 24, 79 CE, Mount Vesuvius, a volcano in Italy erupted. By the end of the day, the Roman port city of Pompeii was covered by 20 feet of ash and rock. The city lay forgotten until the eighteenth century. Archaeological excavations began in 1748 and are still being done. Almost three quarters of the city has been uncovered and a number of buildings restored.
The charred remnants of food found by archaeologists at Pompeii as well as some of the food containers provide insights into the Roman diet at the time of the city’s destruction.
The Oregon Museum of Science and Technology (OMSI) in Portland had a special exhibit on Pompeii which included more than 200 items on loan from the Naples National Archaeological Museum.
Charred food
According to the Museum display:
“Barley, millet, and emmer wheat were the staples of a poor family’s diet in Pompeii. If they were lucky, porridge made of barley was mixed with bits of fish or vegetables.”
Food Containers
A glirarium is a container, or cage, that was used for raising edible dormice. According to the Museum display:
“This rodent was considered a delicacy for wealthy Roman families. The glirarium is outfitted with spiral shelves on the interior, two food tanks, and multiple air holes. These conditions urged dormice to hibernate in captivity where they were fattened until they became a savory and luxurious snack.”
One surviving Roman cookbook, attributed (falsely) to the well-known gourmet Apicius, included a recipe for stuffed dormice.
Eating out
In her book The Fires of Vesuvius: Pompeii Lost and Found, Mary Beard writes:
“Pompeii has long been thought of as a cheap café culture, with bars, taverns and thermopolia (as they are often called in modern guidebooks, though this was certainly not the standard ancient term) lining the streets, catching the passing trade—from visitors with time on their hands to local residents with nowhere nice of their own to be. In fact the masonry counters facing the pavements, with large jars (dolia) set into them and display stands behind, are one of the most familiar elements of in the Pompeian street scene.”
There were more than 300 thermopolia or cauponae in Pompeii. These were restaurants or bars that opened onto the street. Some of these had a separate back room where their more important customers could sit or recline on couches to eat.
In his section on Rome in The Grammar of the Ancient World, Peter Chrisp writes:
“During the daytime, Romans ate informally, often at street bars called thermopolia. A thermopolia had a masonry counter with large earthenware jars set into it, holding hot food and mulled wine. It offered the Roman equivalent of today’s fast food.”
The amphora for garum is identified with its distinctive pear-shaped and elongated base. Typically, the name of the merchant would be painted on the side of the container.
According to the Museum display:
“Large AMPHORA—terracotta vases—containing hot soup or mulled wine slotted into stone counters. Food was cooked and heated in ovens that stood on a back counter. Many people ordered and ate their breakfast or lunch standing at the front counter. Others ordered food to go which they ate outside in the market place.”
According to the Museum display:
“Wine was fermented in open air containers over a short period of time, so it tasted a lot different from the wines of today. Most wine amphorae were created to hold a standard volume of one cubic foot (about seven gallons).”
Bread
In Pompeii, archaeologists have uncovered 33 structures which they have identified as bakeries. The identifying features of bakeries are the mills used in grinding flour and the dome-shaped ovens used for baking the bread. One small bakery contained four mills made from lava and a single large oven.
In Pompeii, as in other Roman cities, bread was a staple food. According to the Museum display:
“The local volcanic rock made high quality millstones. Bread was baked in wood-fired brick ovens, similar to contemporary Neapolitan pizza ovens. Loaves were round and flat and scored into eight to ten wedges with the name of the baker stamped into each loaf.
Flour was poor and yeast was not used, so bread was generally hard, even when fresh. To soften it, people dipped it in their wine, oil, or soup.”
With regard to the use of the bread ovens, Peter Chrisp, in his chapters on Rome in The Grammar of the Ancient World, reports:
“A wood or charcoal fire was burned inside until it reached the right temperature, then the fire was raked out and the loaves placed above the ashes.”
Not all bread was sold as some was distributed free by politicians. Peter Chrisp notes:
“Distribution of free bread was an important way of winning political support.”
More Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome: Theater in Pompeii
Ancient Rome: Glass Bottles (Photo Diary)
Ancient Scotland: Roman Crafts (Photo Diary)
Roman Soldiers in Ancient Scotland (Photo Diary)
Ancient Scotland: The Roman Invasion (Photo Diary)