What would Claudius's legions have eaten and drunk on campaign and in their barracks? According to Simon Macdowall in Warrior 9: Late Roman Infantryman 236–565 AD, the daily ration of a legionary in Egypt was three pounds of bread, two pounds of meat, two pints of wine and one eighth of a pint of olive oil. From Michael Simkins in Men at Arms 46: The Roman Army from Caesar to Trajan we learn that legionaries carried grain, ham and cheese, and other foodstuffs collected by foraging. None of the literature talks in detail about army catering, but surviving Roman writing about food describes many dishes that are as likely to have featured in a legionary's diet as in a civilian's.
Apicius On Cookery (de re coquinaria) is the best known and most complete source that has come down to us. It is, in fact, a collection of recipes from several generations of the same family, but the first and best known Apicius, Marcus Gavius, lived in Rome in the same century as Claudius's invasion of Britain. He was a renowned chef and gourmet, and had his own cookery
Ingredients
The recipes of Apicius include some rather extraordinary imperial court dishes involving such delicacies as camels' feet, cocks' combs and unmentionable parts of pigs, male and female. But there are also many other everyday recipes which make us realise that Romans ate a lot of pork, fish, chicken, and also small birds like thrushes and larks, still popular in Italy today. For vegetables, leeks and onions were much used. Peas, beans and lentils are often mentioned, also green vegetables, garlic, asparagus, cucumber and gourds. Early varieties of today's European fruits were widely cultivated, as were olives, for eating separately or as an ingredient in many dishes and for oil.
Olive oil was used in almost every dish (never butter). Their cuisine was one of the many elements of Roman culture with origins in Greece, and Eastern influences can be clearly identified in Greek cuisine. Even for basic dishes Roman recipes generally require complex blends of every imaginable spice found between Hadrian's wall and Persia. One finds black pepper, cumin, lovage, coriander, dill, mint, aniseed, saffron, oregano, to name a few, sometimes all in one recipe or even in one sauce! Interestingly, garlic doesn't feature as much as one would expect.
Honey and vinegar were regularly used, often together for a sweet-sour effect. But the most distinctive flavouring ingredients were garum, a salty fish essence, and two sweeteners made from grapes, possum and defrutum. Of all Roman ingredients, garum is surely the most intriguing. It seems to appear in almost every dish and sauce.
The recipe for garum may be a little offputting. Its base was anchovies, left to ferment in brine for some weeks. A liquor was extracted and flavoured with different herbs and spices and defrutum or possum. We are told there were many different flavours of garum made in both homes and factories (the furthest north found near London) throughout the empire. The end result was an intense salty, fishy sauce which would keep for many months. It is very likely that most legionaries carried a small personal flask in their kit with their bronze cooking pot and other necessities.
Incredibly, something very similar (perhaps even a descendant or ancestor) is still made in South East Asia. It is called Nuoc Mam in Vietnam, Nam Pla in Thailand and is obtainable from oriental groceries; ask for 'fish sauce'. The English cookery writer Katie Stewart gives a simple recipe which serious gastronomic re-enactors may like to try. However, starting from first principles with a heap of fresh anchovies in hot sunlight is not recommended, having been found to be both risky and antisocial!
You will need:
Salt, 1/2 pound
Anchovy filets
Oregano, one teaspoon
6 tablespoons of defrutum
Bring to the boil in 1 1/2 pints of water and cook briskly for about 15 minutes. Cool and strain three or more times through muslin till fairly clear. According to one scholar the result should be 'of murky colour, salty taste and pungent aroma'! This can be bottled and will keep for several weeks.
For the less adventurous there are various anchovy essences and pastes to be found in European and American delicatessens.
Possum was raisin wine. Italian Vin Santo is probably the nearest present day equivalent, but sweet sherry, madeira or vermouth will give the right effect. Defrutum was a reduction of must and can be made by boiling red grape juice down by about two thirds.
Panis
Roman bread was made from various sorts and qualities of flour, much as today, but did not rise much. Barley bread was eaten as well as wheat, though the former seems to have been regarded as a punishment in the army. Loaves were usually round and dented on top so they could easily be broken into four, six or eight pieces. Roman soldiers on campaign would be issued with hard, twice-cooked loaves, which would keep for many days. Unleavened bread was also eaten and would have been very much the same as today's pita bread.
Vinum
What wine did our Roman legionaries and their officers drink? What wines should we serve with our re-enacted cookery? This is an enormous and complex subject. The legionaries' basic drink was actually vinegar mixed with water, but a lot of wine was also drunk, and ale in Britain. Roman wine may generally have been sweeter and heavier than most wines today and would often have been cut with water. So, to suit modern palates, but to maintain a link with the ancient past, I have selected some good Italian wines that are made from ancient grape varieties. These were introduced into southern Italy by the Greeks with such success that the area became known by the ancients as Enotria, 'the land of wine'.
The best-known of these grapes was called Gemini, 'Twins', from its double branches. It is still cultivated today and is now called Greco. Greco di Tufo should certainly be on the wine list. It is a distinctive white wine, quite full and brisk, and makes a wonderful companion to any of the recipes above. Fiano de Avellino, also from Campania and made from an ancient Roman varietal, harder to find, is even better. The vineyards of Antonio Mastroberardino, produce this fine wine and specialise in production from the ancient grapes found in the region. Mastroberardino has been called the 'wine archaeologist' for good reason!
For the finest red, get some Taurasi if you can find it, also produced by Mastroberardino. It is made from the ancient Aglianico grape and its quality is so good that some call it 'the Barolo of the South'; it should not be drunk young. Another very good red is Aglianico del Vulture, slightly lighter in character, but whose long and robust taste should satisfy the most discriminating modern-day legionary; look for the Riserva which will have been aged at least five years. For a more ordinary but pleasant red, try Lacryma Christi del Vesuvio in the amphora-shaped bottle which recalls its ancient origin, though the Romans certainly did not call it by that name. Mastroberardino, again, makes the best.
Would good Italian wines have been available in the farthest reaches of the empire? Certainly – communications were excellent and amphorae (large clay wine jars) holding about 35 litres and sealed with a large cork covered with wax were used for storage and transport. As they were completely airtight, the wine would keep well, good ones for up to twenty years. Moreover, to maintain the legions' rations and supply the colonies, new vineyards were planted as the empire advanced north, up the Moselle near the great fortress town of Trier and in Gaul in the areas now known as Provençe, Bordeaux and Burgundy – some of Rome's great contributions to our civilisation!
More recipes
I have selected and tried out some of the most simple recipes with pleasing results. It should be noted that Apicius leaves the cook to decide on quantities and whether to use fresh or dried herbs, and generally encourages improvisation.
Boletus
For four, you will need:
Mushrooms, up to a pound (the wide-capped variety is best)
Black pepper, a quarter to half a teaspoon
Lovage (the pale green leaves of celery are a good substitute), half a teaspoon
Honey, one teaspoon
Vinegar, one teaspoon
Garum, one teaspoon
Olive oil, two teaspoons
Slice the mushrooms. Grind the pepper and chopped lovage with a pestle and mortar (or in the blender) with the rest of the ingredients. Cook gently all together over a low fire for five minutes, until tender but not too soft. Dried boletus mushrooms (ceps) will take about 40 minutes. Serve hot or cold with stone-ground wholemeal bread.
Porrus
Leeks make another very simple starter dish.
To serve four you will need:
Leeks, about 11/2 pounds
Olive oil, two tablespoons
Garum, one tablespoon
Red wine, half a glass
Boil the leeks in water with a pinch of salt and a little olive oil until tender but with a little bite. Drain, slice lengthwise and put in a dish. Pour on the garum, olive oil and wine mixed up as a vinaigrette. This also may be eaten hot or cold with bread.
Cuniculus
This recipe was a particularly good find. Fresh rabbit, probably trapped on a foraging expedition, would have made a nice change from the salted or smoked pork which the legions marched with. The recipe demonstrates both the complexity and the simplicity of Roman cuisine. The complexity is in the list of spices and herbs; the simplicity in the ease of preparation. The result is a surprisingly luscious dish. This is also a good way of cooking chicken, but rabbit works best.
For four, you will need:
One rabbit
Olive oil, one tablespoon
Garum, one tablespoon
Stock or broth, a good pint
Two or three leeks
Coriander, a pinch
Dill, a pinch
Joint the rabbit and brown it in a small amount of the oil. Add the rest of the oil, the leeks sliced into fine roundels, garum, coriander and dill. Pour on enough stock to cover the meat (this can be chicken stock if you don't have enough rabbit to enable you to make broth from the bonier parts with leek, onion and herbs). Cover and cook at a low simmer for an hour or so until tender. Reduce or drain the cooking juices, depending on how much liquid you want.While the rabbit is cooking, prepare the sauce using a typically Roman variety of ingredients:
Pepper, a pinch
Cumin, celery and corianderseeds, a good pinch of each
One medium onion, finely chopped
Parsley, mint and fresh coriander, enough for one teaspoon of each when chopped
Garum, one teaspoon
Honey, one teaspoon
Vinegar, one teaspoon
Juice of half a lemon
Defrutum or possum, one glass
Flour, one tablespoon (optional thickening)
Using a mortar and pestle, crush and mix all the spices and herbs. Add garum, honey and some of the cooking broth as you go along to make a smooth paste (making a curry involves the same sort of process). Put the paste in a small pan and mix in the lemon juice, vinegar and defrutum. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat add the flour to thicken (if you wish). Pour over the rabbit and serve.
Perna
Finally, a recipe for boiled ham, most likely a staple item in the legionaries' diet. The Romans used dried figs to soften the salty taste of their ham or bacon and this certainly works well with today's meats. The result is a juicy and deliciously simple dish.
You will need:
Ham, gammon or bacon leg (preferably smoked)
Dried figs, two or three per pound of meat
Bay leaves
Put in a pot and cover with water. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 90 minutes or more depending on weight. Drain (discarding the figs) and allow to set for a few minutes before slicing and serving hot or cold. Shredded cabbage can be added for the last 10-15 minutes of cooking, a one-pot strategy which would have appealed to legionaries.Apicius went on to criss-cross the fat with a knife and fill the cuts with honey. He then rolled the ham in a paste of flour mixed with olive oil and baked it in a medium oven for about 30 minutes until nicely browned. But this is a fancy variation which legionaries would probably not have bothered with. Another variation, which I favour, is to push figs into deep slits cut into the ham before cooking. The leeks and mushrooms will go well with this, as with the rabbit.
by René Chartrand
Further reading
Cowan, Ross, Warrior 71: Roman Legionary 58 BC–AD 69 (Osprey, 2003)
Fields, Nick, Fortress 31: Rome's Northern Frontier AD 70–235- Beyond Hadrian's Wall (Osprey, 2005)
MacDowall, Simon, Warrior 9: Late Roman Infantryman AD 236–565 (Osprey, 1994)
Simkins, Michael, Men-at-Arms 46: The Roman Army from Caesar to Trajan (Osprey, 1984)
Wilcox, Peter, Men-at-Arms 158: Rome's Enemies (2) Gallic and British Celts (Osprey, 1985)
Wilcox, Peter, Men-at-Arms 175: Rome's Enemies (3) Parthians and Sassanid Persians (Osprey, 1986)