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  • Ostrich on Random Weirdest Foods From Ancient Roman Cuisin

    (#12) Ostrich

    Another animal imported from abroad, the ostrich was a recorded rarity on Roman tables. Roman physician and philosopher Galen (d. c. 216 AD) thought they were gross; he wrote that "their flesh is full of residue" and hard to cook. Ostrich eggs were, on the other hand, highly valued. They were praised for their size and flavor

    Apicius found some value in ostrich meat, however, offering recipes for boiled ostrich and ostrich stew. Emperor Elagabalus (d. 222 AD) loved the flightless birds. According to the Historia Augusta, "Sometimes at his banquets he served ostriches, saying that the Jews had been commanded to eat them." The latter claim about Jews eating ostriches wasn't true - there was a prohibition against eating them - making this perhaps a weird practical joke on Elagabalus's part.

    On another occasion, Elagabalus "brought in the heads of six hundred ostriches in order that the brains might be eaten."

  • Posca on Random Weirdest Foods From Ancient Roman Cuisin

    (#11) Posca

    While the rich drank wine and dined on delicacies, the poor had a much more pedestrian diet. Without access to the best vintages, many Romans opted for posca - water mixed with vinegar and some sort of seasoning. Posca could also include lemon juice and later came to incorporate eggs, other types of fruit juice, and some wine.

    Posca was the drink of Roman soldiers because it energized and refreshed the consumer, disinfected non-potable water, and was easy to make. Members of the lower classes drank posca and, while statesman like Cato the Elder (d. 149 BC) enjoyed the drink, elites generally stuck to wine.

    Less appealing than posca, however, was lora, a wine usually consumed by slaves. Lora was made by soaking seeds and other detritus from wine in vinegar to seep out any latent flavor.  

  • Dolphin, Jellyfish, And Sea Urchin on Random Weirdest Foods From Ancient Roman Cuisin

    (#8) Dolphin, Jellyfish, And Sea Urchin

    The Romans loved seafood, even dining on dolphin on occasion. Although not actually a fish, dolphin was a potential candidate for salt fish balls in wine sauce. The recipe called for a mixture of sea creature flesh with spices like mint, parsley, and pepper. After all of the ingredients were blended and formed into balls, they were poached in "wine, broth, and oil." 

    Dolphin was an excessive culinary treat prohibited by sumptuary legislation. Wealthy Romans like Rutilius Rufus found ways around these laws, however, buying "his fish from fishermen who used to be his slaves... including delicacies like dolphin and swordfish." 

    Much like dolphin, jellyfish wasn't the most common item on a Roman menu. When it did appear, however, jellyfish was part of a salad.

    Slightly more present in Roman cuisine was sea urchin. During the same Pompeii excavation in which scientists uncovered a giraffe bone, they also found the remains of a sea urchinApicius advocated using sea urchins on top of a mega-casserole that featured everything from brains to cheese, or on their own. Sea urchins were boiled or eaten raw, stuffed with egg and honey, or simply sprinkled with salt and pepper. 

  • Dormice on Random Weirdest Foods From Ancient Roman Cuisin

    (#9) Dormice

    Household mice in Rome were kept at bay by weasels rather than cats. Dormice, however, were much larger than traditional mice and were incorporated into culinary practice. For a time, there were laws prohibiting the consumption of dormice, but Romans continued to hunt the creatures.

    In order to bring dormice to the dinner table more efficiently, Romans began raising them. Romans hand-raised dormice to fatten them up, keeping them in jars stuffed with acorns, beechnuts, or chestnuts. Once the mice got chubby, Apicius recommended butchering them and stuffing them with "pork and small pieces of dormouse meat trimmings, all pounded with pepper, nuts, laser, broth." 

    First-century Roman satirist Petronius describes another way to prepare dormice in his Satyricon, noting they were "rolled in honey and poppy-seed, and supported on little bridges soldered to the plate."

  • Parrot on Random Weirdest Foods From Ancient Roman Cuisin

    (#3) Parrot

    One of ancient Rome's most famous gourmands was the third-century emperor Elagabalus (r. 218-222 AD), who loved hosting extravagant parties more than pretty much anything else. Ancient gossip in the Historia Augusta reports that he was a true glutton who enjoyed serving even his attendants the greatest delicacies. The text reports, "He served to the palace-attendants, moreover, huge platters heaped up with... heads of parrots, pheasants, and peacocks."

    The Roman affinity for exotic birds similarly extended to flamingo. Both parrot and flamingo were cooked by boiling the meat in salt, dill, and vinegar, later adding leeks and coriander. Apicius reports the birds were then infused with pepper, cumin, and other herbs, sweetened with dates, and braised. Some recipes included additional flavors like celery seed, mint, and shallots. 

    Romans were also interested in parrots as conversationalists. According to Pliny the Elder (d. 79 AD), the parrot was interesting due to its ability to "imitate the human voice... [and] converse." He noted, parrots "will duly salute an emperor, and pronounce the words it has heard spoken; it is rendered especially frolicsome under the influence of wine."

  • Weasel on Random Weirdest Foods From Ancient Roman Cuisin

    (#5) Weasel

    Weasels weren't regularly served up at Roman feasts, but they were sure handy if someone was suffering from epilepsy. Pliny the Elder wrote, as a treatment for epilepsy, "The brains of a weasel are also considered very good, dried and taken in drink; the liver, too, of that animal, or the testes, uterus, or paunch, dried and taken with coriander, in manner already mentioned."

    Also, weasel flesh, when combined with salt, supposedly helped heal people stung by snakes.

    Just as he did with respect to camel brains, Caelius Aurelianus, writing in the fifth century AD, challenged the idea that weasel was a curative for epilepsy. 

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About This Tool

With the continuous expansion, ancient Rome changed from a small city-state to a powerful Roman Empire. The territory of the ancient Roman Empire was very vast, with a rich variety of products and foods. The life of the Romans has undergone major changes, especially in terms of food, and the food of nobles and commoners was different. The ancient Roman nobles began to admire luxury and pleasure, which resulted in many strange foods and customs.

Are you interested in ancient Roman foods? There is never a shortage of different cuisines, the random tool focus on introducing 12 weird foods from ancient Roman, such as parrot, weasel, peacock, etc.

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