Customer Reviews

Roman Cookery: Ancient Recipes for Modern Kitchens

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With the lot of books written about Apicius and his famous "de re coquinaria", other sources of antique Roman cookery have long been ignored. Thanks to this book it's no more the case.

Numerous recipes and some good comments makes the everyday cooking in ancient Rome, and it's provinces, come back to life.

This is one of the first books I've seen on classical/historical cooking that represents the "food of the people" rather than the fancy food of the nobility that Apicius and other gourmets were writing about. Grant uses some non-traditional sources such as works on agriculture to get some clues as to what the common people were eating. His recipes are easy to follow and generally easy to prepare. Great for anyone interested in historical cooking for everyday rather than party fare.

Roman Cookery is a great read for the fact that Graves provides fascinating insight into ancient cooking techniques and this portion of the text is well researched and presented. As a cookbook however, Roman Cookery has its flaws. A lack of serving sizes is definitly the most striking of these omissions but a general lack of description and explanation makes obtaining the desired end a difficult process. While a couple dishes turned out great a majority were either overcooked or needed more or less of the ingredients to make the meal work (not spices or other opinionated deviations but the neccesary steps such as the amount of flour needed to make dough as opposed to batter, for example).

All in all I would recommend picking up the book to experiment with some side dishes here and there and to read the historical discourse on culinary techniques but don't try to plan a week of meals out of the book or else you may find yourself frustrated in the process.

Researching ancient Roman recipes can be be frustrating, and leave the searcher a little bit baffled as to ancient ingredients and portions! But this little volume offers a wide selection of recipes that can be easily prepared in a modern kitchen. With some basic shopping, a Roman banquet can be offered to friends and family alike. I've found that this volume gives me the wherewithall to put together a rather elaborate party with modern palates satisfied and piqued! Definitely a great help, this little book!

I am impressed and excited about this book. There is an abundance of history included with the text, as well as easy to follow recipes. First given with the (translated into English) original text reference, and then with an interpretive recipe to follow. I like this, because it gives the reader a chance to re-interpret the text and try some other variations as well, if for any reason you feel the interpreted recipe might be wrong. It also allows the reader to come up with your own variations based on the given historical text excerpts. I highly reccomend this book for anyone who is interested in learning more about ancient Roman cuisine. While most of the recipes do seem to be focused on foods available in Italy, it does talk about the distribution of foods among the vast expanse of the Roman empire, from North Africa around the entire Mediterranean basin and up through the northern European region. I would like to see a book just like this one written about the foods of the Holy Land. It is exactly the type of information I am looking for.

Though the items are measured in ounces rather than cups, they are delicious. One iten flopped, but I've had people asking for the recipies for several dishes! Yummy!

I bought this book because I am a participant in a historical recreation society. I've successfully made several of the recipes. The nice thing is that you can read the original text and decide how to make your own attempt if you do not want to follow the author's version. The historical information in the book about cooking and what the common Roman people ate is well worth it.

I got this book to compliment my other cookbook "A Taste of Ancient Rome".
It's a little more modernised than the other but it holds true to the concept. There's an introduction in which things are looked at from an historical perspective and then there are the recipes which are all written in an easy to follow fashion. I have to confess that I've developed a weakness for Itrion as a result of reading this book. It's a good and fun book!

I love this book! My son first saw it in his Latin class and suggested we needed to give it a try. It is outstanding. Fun, full of good information (but not so much as to make it an historical tome - it never forgets to be a useful cook book)and easy to use. We tried a couple of the dishes already and they were fantastic. If this is how the Romans ate, well, Ego sum Romanorum!