Dinnertime! Man, I am hungry. I don’t really feel like cooking, I got some spending money. So let’s
grab some fast food- maybe Carl's jr., Chipotle, how about Mcdonalds… Oh wait, we can’t because
it’s 79 A.D.! And we live in a Roman Empire, so I guess I can’t go out and pick up a burrito…
or can I? Today on Nutty History, we’re driving through what fast food was like in Ancient Rome!
The Roman Empire, at its height, ruled over more than 70 million people and covered lands as far
as what is now England in the north, reaching all the way down to Morocco in the south and across to
Iraq in the east. Feeding everyone in an empire that big was not an easy task. The roman emperor
Augustus prioritized importing enough food to keep his people fed, probably because he was afraid
that if there was a famine they might rebel. After what happened to his predecessor Julius,
Augustus probably made “don’t get stabbed” pretty high on his list of priorities. As it turns out,
the city-dwelling Roman commoner went out to eat even more than the average person today.
Most Roman commoners would not own an oven so eating out was the only way to get something nice
and hot. And here’s me two thousand years later, just too lazy to turn my stainless steel oven on.
To keep the food on the table, many different products were imported to
Roman cities from across the empire- honey from Greece, oil from Spain, wine from France,
and a super popular fish sauce called Garum from anywhere they could get it. Garum was
a salty sauce that was used in everything, and the production of it was actually vital to the
economy of Pompeii. It’s actually because of this one particular fish sauce, of all things,
that we can confirm the date of the eruption of mount Vesuvius. It was written that Vesuvius
erupted in August of 79 A.D. by those who saw it and an exploding volcano is sort of hard to miss.
Analysis of the remains of Garum sauce found in Pompeii, buried under all that ash,
reveals it was made from a kind of fish that congregate only in the summer months,
confirming the date in the ancient roman accounts. Congratulations, fish juice makers, your noble
profession still contributes to the sum of human knowledge. So, fish sauce, figs, wine, bread,
honey, beans, lentils - all these different foods, and a period of relative economic frequently.
So what does a fast food restaurant in ancient Rome look like? Well, they had a couple kinds-
the first was called a taberna- a small stall with an oven attachment where you’d buy your food over
the counter. This was basically a drive-thru- no customer seating, so you’d get snacks and
light bites here. Here you could grab some wine, hot bread, or a fried fish snack. The rich could
afford choice meat, but commoners frequently ate what was called tomaclum- the meat leftovers,
intestines and offcuts. This gross assortment of ground guts was usually served in a sandwich,
meaning that, yeah, Taberna were basically hot dog stands- right down to not wanting to know
what goes in the sausage. The second kind of Roman fast food was the popinae-a super cheap
wine bar. Popinae were frequented by the lowest classes of Roman society- slaves and foreigners-
and they served simple foods like olives, breads, and stews, plus of course the wine.
The Popinae were generally built near or within other businesses so after grabbing a bite you
could indulge in some gambling or maybe pick out a prostitute. Really one-stop shopping. In ancient
Roman literature, popinae are usually associated with vice and crime, though I can’t imagine why.
The richest and most powerful Romans enjoyed absurdly exotic meals- dining on things like
flamingo, sparrow, peacock tongues, roasted dormice, or a very rare and expensive dish-
you know, chicken. For some reason though, Roman Emperors were known for their love of vegetables:
Emperor Tiberius loved cucumber, while Augustus Caesar’s favorite food was asparagus. Despite
this decadence, some records suggest that even the Emperor would sometimes enjoy a
bite to eat from the termopolium. “Let’s see, I’ve got a Caesar salad for Caesar?” Well,
it’s unclear if he went down there himself or if some kind of Ancient Roman grubhub existed.
“My delivery driver was prompt but the volcano erupted just as he arrived, burying
us both in a wave of burning hot ash, frozen for eternity in the moment of our deaths. 1 star.”
Though we only know about it because of a catastrophic volcanic eruption, the fact that
the ancient Romans enjoyed their food in many of the same ways we do today- cheap, fast, and
close to a prostitute- provides a living link to the past. It’s important to remember that history
isn’t just dates in a book or decaying old ruins, it’s people, real people, who lived and laughed
and ate just as we do. So the next time you’re at Chipotle paying extra for your guac in your bowl,
think of that ancient Roman citizen paying extra for fish sauce on his intestine sandwich and
consider how you might have more in common with them than you have differences. For example, you
both probably wonder if one tiny frikkin’ spoonful is even worth paying extra. So what are you hungry
for? Let us know in the comments where you’d be eating in ancient Rome. And what other fast
food from ancient civilizations you want to hear about next. Thanks for watching Nutty History.