Start with our video overview:
What people ate in Ancient Rome reveals more than just their tastes – it offers insights into the economy, social life, and culture of a vast and interconnected empire. Three crops formed the foundation of the Roman diet: wheat, grapes, and olives. Known as the Mediterranean triad, they were used to make bread, wine, and olive oil. These staples were more than just meals, they were central to trade networks and critical to feeding a booming urban population.
At the height of the Roman Empire, the city of Rome had over one million residents. To sustain them, the government organized the cura annonae, a massive grain distribution system. Historians estimate that more than 400,000 metric tons of grain were imported annually from across the Mediterranean to keep the city fed.
Ancient texts provide valuable clues about Roman food and agriculture. Authors like Cato the Elder, Varro, and Pliny the Elder wrote in detail about farming techniques, culinary traditions, and dining habits. Perhaps most intriguing is De Re Culinaria, a cookbook from the first century CE, attributed to Apicius. The recipes in this book offer a glimpse into the lavish meals enjoyed by Rome’s elite, such as rich sauces, seafood, and exotic meats (including flamingo). The spices used to flavor these dishes – black pepper, cumin, and bay leaves – are still widely used today.
Archaeology adds another layer to what we know. Frescoes from Pompeii and Herculaneum, preserved by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE, depict lively scenes of food preparation and feasting. One fresco even shows a flatbread topped with ingredients, a dish that looks strikingly similar to modern pizza. Street-side eateries called thermopolia also flourished in Roman cities, offering hot meals served from open counters. These spots catered to hungry city dwellers looking for a quick meal, much like today’s fast-food restaurants.
In Pompeii, archaeologists have recovered charred remains of bread, eggs, figs, nuts, fish, and pork, offering a direct taste of everyday Roman cuisine. At the Colosseum in Rome, excavations of ancient sewers have uncovered goat and chicken bones, olive pits, melon seeds, and pine nuts – revealing what spectators snacked on during gladiatorial games. Across the Roman Empire, the ruins of macella, or marketplaces, tell us how food distribution was organized and how important these spaces were for daily social life. Markets were more than just a place to buy groceries, they were community centers where business, politics, and friendship all intertwined.
Bibliography:
- Purcell, N. (2003). “The Way We Used to Eat: Diet, Community, and History at Rome.” The American Journal of Philology, 124(3), 329–358. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1562134
- Brown, M. (2011). “Grain, Pulses and Olives: An Attempt toward a Quantitative Approach to Diet in Ancient Rome.” Journal of the Washington Academy of Sciences, 97(1), 1–24. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24536494
For Further Reading:
- Bubalo, Mattea. (2022). “Ancient Roman Snacks Found in Colosseum Dig.” BBC. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63746307
- Katz, Brigit. (2020). “Ancient Pompeiians Stopped at This ‘Snack Bar’ to Feast on Snails, Fish and Wine.” Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/fast-food-joint-pompeii-served-snails-fish-and-wine-new-finds-suggest-180976651/
- Monaco, Farrell. (2023). “Adoreum: the Newly Discovered Flatbread Fresco of Pompeii.” BBC. https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230629-adoreum-the-newly-discovered-flatbread-fresco-of-pompeii
- Nayeri, Farah. (2019). “Stuffed Dormouse and Fish Gut Sauce: The Flavors of Pompeii.” The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/07/arts/design/rome-food-last-supper-in-pompeii.html
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Cite this page as: Darius Arya, The American Institute for Roman Culture, “Ancient Roman Cuisine,” Ancient Rome Live. Last modified 05/22/2025. https://ancientromelive.org/ancient-roman-cuisine/
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