• ARCHAEOLOGY
• WALKING IN MALAGNE
  • Handicraft
  • The art of construction
  • The farmer
  • The kitchen
    • To brew
    • Making bread
    • Cooking
• TEACHERS
• CHILDREN

Cooking

The cereals that are eaten in porridge, bread or cakes form, together with the greens and beef or meat, the main source of nourishment of the Gallic Romans.

The Gallic Romans ate lots of vegetables, some of which that were known for quite some time in Gaul (leek, carrots, cabbage), other vegetables were imported from Italy and became common nutrition (cucumbers, lentils), and others were picked directly from nature among what is today called weeds (pigweed, stinging nettle).

On the former rubbish-dumps remains of food are found (only those that are resistant). From this an archaeologist could draw a picture of the nourishment of the Gallic Romans. The presence of oyster shells for example, tells us something about the level of prosperity of the habitants of the villa, but is also an indication of trade and commercial relations existing at the time. The Gallic Romans ate also dried fruit, fish and chicken. A rich and varied menu that does not seem to differ very much from ours.

The Gallic Roman kitchen seems very different from our own way of cooking, strange enough, and it does not resemble the current Italian way of cooking either. For instance, the Gallic Romans did not have tomatoes that were imported only much later from America.

Some recipes from the Gallic Roman kitchen have come to us by celebrated Latin authors, for example Apicius. In that way we can exploit their cooking habits. In any case the basic ingredients differ often and some very specific tastes have to be softened for our modern palate (venison for instance). Their beef and meet that was conserved in salt had to be undone of this salty taste. These flavours are hard to imitate with our meat that is kept in the fridge.

They used lots of honey and liked salted and sugared dishes: peppered desserts with honey for instance. The taste of the dishes is often intensified by the use of several kinds of herbs: celery, thyme, lavas, anys,..etc.