Roman Empire

===Food and dining===

{{Main|Food and dining in the Roman Empire}}
{{See also|Ancient Roman cuisine|Ancient Rome and wine}}
[[File:Still life Tor Marancia Vatican.jpg|thumb|[[Still life]] on a 2nd-century [[Roman mosaic]]]]

Most apartments in Rome lacked kitchens, though a charcoal [[brazier]] could be used for rudimentary cookery.<ref>{{Harvp|Stambaugh|1988|pp=144, 178}}; {{Cite book |last=Hinds |first=Kathryn |title=Everyday Life in the Roman Empire |date=2010 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish |page=90}}</ref> Prepared food was sold at pubs and bars, inns, and food stalls (''[[taberna]]e'', ''cauponae'', ''[[popina]]e'', ''[[thermopolium|thermopolia]]'').{{Sfnp|Holleran|2012|p=136ff}} [[Carryout]] and restaurants were for the lower classes; [[fine dining]] appeared only at dinner parties in wealthy homes with a [[chef]] (''archimagirus'') and kitchen staff,{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|p=299}} or banquets hosted by social clubs (''[[collegium (ancient Rome)|collegia]]'').<ref>{{Cite book |last=Faas |first=Patrick |title=Around the Roman Table: Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome |date=2005 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |page=29 |orig-date=1994}}</ref>

Most Romans consumed at least 70% of their daily [[calorie]]s in the form of cereals and [[legumes]].{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|p=681}} ''[[Puls (food)|Puls]]'' (pottage) was considered the food of the Romans,<ref>{{Citation |last=[[Pliny the Elder]] |title=Natural History |page=19.83–84}}; {{Cite book |last=Gowers |first=Emily |title=The Loaded Table: Representation of Food in Roman Literature |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=17 |orig-date=1993}}; {{Harvp|Gagarin|2010|p=198}}</ref> and could be elaborated to produce dishes similar to [[polenta]] or [[risotto]].{{Sfnp|Stambaugh|1988|p=144}} Urban populations and the military preferred bread.{{Sfnp|Boardman|2000|p=681}} By the reign of [[Aurelian]], the state had begun to distribute the ''annona'' as a daily ration of bread baked in state factories, and added [[olive oil]], wine, and pork to the dole.<ref>{{Harvp|Morris|Scheidel|2009|p=191}}; {{Harvp|Stambaugh|1988|p=146}}; {{Harvp|Holleran|2012|p=134}}</ref>

Roman literature focuses on the dining habits of the upper classes,{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=354}} for whom the evening meal (''[[cena]]'') had important social functions.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|p=356}} Guests were entertained in a finely decorated dining room (''[[triclinium]]'') furnished with couches. By the late Republic, women dined, reclined, and drank wine along with men.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Roller |first=Matthew B. |title=Dining Posture in Ancient Rome |date=2006 |publisher=Princeton University Press |pages=96ff}}</ref> The poet Martial describes a dinner, beginning with the ''gustatio'' ("tasting" or "appetizer") salad. The main course was [[goat meat|kid]], beans, greens, a chicken, and leftover ham, followed by a dessert of fruit and wine.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Alcock |first=Joan P. |title=Food in the Ancient World |date=2006 |publisher=Greenwood Press |page=184}}</ref> Roman "[[foodie]]s" indulged in [[wild game]], [[fowl]] such as [[peacock]] and [[flamingo]], large fish ([[mullet (fish)|mullet]] was especially prized), and [[shellfish]]. Luxury ingredients were imported from the far reaches of empire.<ref>{{Cite book |last=[[Suetonius]] |url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Vitellius*.html#13.2 |title=Life of Vitellius |page=13.2}}; {{Harvp|Gowers|2003|p=20}}</ref> A book-length collection of Roman recipes is attributed to [[Apicius]], a name for several figures in antiquity that became synonymous with "[[gourmet]]".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kaufman |first=Cathy K. |chapter=Remembrance of Meals Past: Cooking by Apicius' Book |title=Food and the Memory: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cooker |pages=125ff}}</ref>

Refined cuisine could be moralized as a sign of either civilized progress or decadent decline.{{Sfnp|Gagarin|2010|p=201}} Most often, because of the importance of landowning in Roman culture, produce—cereals, legumes, vegetables, and fruit—were considered more civilized foods than meat. The [[Mediterranean diet|Mediterranean staples]] of [[Sacramental bread|bread]], [[Sacramental wine|wine]], and [[chrism|oil]] were [[sanctification|sacralized]] by Roman Christianity, while Germanic meat consumption became a mark of [[Germanic paganism|paganism]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Flandrin |first1=Jean Louis |title=Food: A Culinary History from Antiquity to the Present |last2=Montanari |first2=Massimo |date=1999 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0-231-11154-6 |pages=165–167 |author-link2=Massimo Montanari}}</ref> Some philosophers and Christians resisted the demands of the body and the pleasures of food, and adopted [[fasting]] as an ideal.{{Sfnp|Potter|2009|pp=365–366}} Food became simpler in general as urban life in the West diminished and trade routes were disrupted;{{Sfnp|Flandrin|Montanari|1999|pp=165–167}} the Church formally discouraged [[gluttony]],{{Sfnp|Bowersock|Brown|Grabar|1999|p=455}} and hunting and [[pastoralism]] were seen as simple and virtuous.{{Sfnp|Flandrin|Montanari|1999|pp=165–167}}

{{Anchor|spectacle}}<!-- [[Public spectacle]] redirects here -->