Food in Rome

Food was very important in ancient Rome. Farms did not have the machines we have today, so they were not able to harvest or plant nearly as much food, meaning food was a lot rarer and more expensive. This meant the poor people could only get the bare minimum of food for their families. The bare minimum for their families usually consisted of a bit of bread in the morning and some porridge and bread for dinner. Because of this the wealthy people in Rome saw food as a way to prove they were wealthy. An example of this is the stupendous food parties the richer people would throw. They would have almost all the food be imported items from other faraway lands. Some of the meals they had consisted of jellyfish, squid, flamingo, peacock, ostriches and their eggs, and pork and bacon were also uncommon in Rome. All of the above were often tried in many different cooking methods, such as roasting, boiling, and frying, and many different spices would be used to literally spice things up. Along with the food that the rich would eat they often had many different drinks available, such as wine (watered down and regular), fruit juices and coconut milk. Needless to say, the providers of these foods became quite rich quickly, and the Romans spent a lot of money on food. Sometimes the emperors and other successful Romans would buy food for the poor and would hand this food out, which would be a very nice gift to the poor people living off bread, making these rich people very popular with the people.