Roman Food and Cookery
Published Mar 1, 1963 ยท D. Eichholz
The Classical Review
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Abstract
THIS is a book of modest size, but of remarkable scope. Every kind of Roman food (if we can exclude cats) and drink is discussed, and usually the discussion is detailed. Only occasionally does the author have to apologize for omitting a topic, such as the classification of Italian wines (p. 167), and in this particular case we can easily consult his excellent edition of Pliny xiv. The comprehensiveness of the book can be gauged from one instance alone. A puzzling feature of the Roman flour industry is the large proportion of the finest quality of flour that, according to Pliny's figures, was produced in a society where the majority could normally afford only bread made of the inferior grades. How was all this fine flour used? Andre (pp. 61-62) answers that what was not consumed was used in industry, particularly by copper workers and papyrus manufacturers: in support of his explanation he cites Pliny xviii. 89. This may not be the whole story, but at least it shows us where to start looking for a solution. What we notice here and in every part of the book is Andre's extraordinarily thorough knowledge of his sources. These include authors from Plautus onwards to the seventh century A.D. In spite of the mass of material to be presented, the sense of perspective is never lost: trends are observed, and the rise and fall of fashions recorded. Differences of place, as well as of time, are continually emphasized. The diet of the town, whether of rich or of poor, is sharply distinguished from that of the country-side, where much primitive 'food-gathering' took place, of a kind now rare in Europe except among gipsies or in western Sicily.
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