Paper
Access to luxury foods in Central Europe during the Roman period: the archaeobotanical evidence
Published Jan 1, 2003 · C. Bakels, S. Jacomet
World Archaeology
152
Citations
14
Influential Citations
Abstract
Archaeobotanical investigations show that during the Roman occupation a large number of foods was introduced into Central Europe, though these did not replace any of the traditional foods. Many of these new additions were incorporated into the local food-producing system and became part of the local menu, offering a wider variety of foods and tastes than before. While they represented luxuries at the very start of the Roman occupation, they lost this status later on. Other foods, however, could not be grown locally, or only with considerable effort, and these remained true luxuries. They comprise rice, chickpea, gourd, black pepper, pistachio, almond, pine kernel, date, pomegranate, olive, melon and, to some extent, peach. Remarkably, figs were quite common.
During the Roman occupation, a wide variety of new foods were introduced into Central Europe, offering a wider variety of tastes and luxuries, while some were still true luxuries.
Sign up to use Study Snapshot
Consensus is limited without an account. Create an account or sign in to get more searches and use the Study Snapshot.
Full text analysis coming soon...