Around the Table of the Romans: Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome (Hardcover)

~ Patrick Faas (Author), Sean Whiteside (Translator) "We can't really talk about Roman cuisine as though it was a single entity..." (more)
Key Phrases: teres piper, teaspoon lovage seed, piper asperges, Alexander the Great, Far East, Etrusca Disciplina (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Faas, a Dutch food historian and chef, opens with the caveats that this is "no historical treatise" and that the more than 150 recipes will be difficult to prepare in a modern kitchen. Excuses aside, this is a capable study of the fascinating ancient Roman culture and the foods that graced its tables. A culinary history leads up to and through the Empire, when imported foods were all the rage and forks were unheard of. (Slaves were ordered to grow long hair so that their masters could wipe their hands on it.) Granted that these recipes are unlikely to be usable, as Faas points out, it's still unfortunate that such recipes as Broad Beans with Meatballs leave out certain details (such as, the type of pan used and the cooking time). Although Faas is most enthusiastic about foods that won't cause the modern palate to salivate-e.g., Stuffed Mouse and Dolphin Balls as well as "the meat of nursing puppies"-of greatest interest here are the comparisons between ancient Roman foods and modern Italian cooking. A dish of Fried Courgettes marinated in vinegar would not be out-of-place on today's antipasto table, and the Lupin beans that were once fed to livestock are now brined and eaten as a snack.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Translated from the original Dutch, this book documents Roman cooking in its historical and anthropological setting from the city's founding to the empire's collapse. The result serves to correct many myths about ancient Rome's eating habits, and the book also provides menus and recipes for those who want to explore one of civilization's first sophisticated cuisines. As Faas documents, Romans loved strongly flavored foods, and they used imported spices liberally, with so much black pepper in some dishes that modern palates would find them unattractive and overwhelmingly hot. Faas inventories Roman foodstuffs one by one, noting their origins and uses. Although bread was a staple, Romans consumed plenty of meat. The more exotic the animal, the more sought after it was, and the Romans eagerly devoured beasts after they first entertained in the amphitheater. To restrain this eating mania, Rome instituted some of the first sumptuary laws. Faas' intriguing recipes are generally reproducible, but they often rely on access to primitive spices and herbs such as lovage and pennyroyal. Mark Knoblauch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1 edition (November 23, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312239580
• ISBN-13: 978-0312239589
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,102,674 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Learn to Cook for Caesar, May 20, 2003

By	Stephen Holland (Greenbelt, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The first half of Around the Table of the Roman's is a discussion of Roman cooking and food. The second half is a list of recipes from various Roman authors. The book has a lot of promise and gives a good overview of what the Romans ate and the role of food in Roman culture. The recipes are given in three forms. First, the original Latin version is give, then a translation is provided. Finally, a more detailed recipe is given that the reader can use to try the recipe at home. The book is interesting, but should be treated as an introduction to Roman diet, cooking, and eating habits. The book was originally written in Dutch and the translation could have been better. However, there are not serious problems with the translation. Overall I liked this book and I am looking forward to trying some of the recipes.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Bit Rambling Yet and Interesting Read, July 18, 2004

By	Gordon H. Jee "arjuna16" (New York NY) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Informative, but Whiteside's translation is spotty. Ilaria Gozzini Giacosa's A Taste of Ancient Rome would help clarify and fill in some of the overlooked topics and recipes.

11 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Very Poorly Written, January 22, 2003

By A Customer

This book is filled with misspellings, poorly phrased sentences, and illustrations not explained well in the text. Whatever happened to editing? The subject should have been presented much more adequately. The publisher should be ashamed to release such a poorly-presented work!