THE ROMAN APPROACH TO CUISINE. SOME TRENDS ARE BEST LEFT IN THE PAST.

Most of us who love history can't help but feel amazement at the accomplishments of the Roman Empire. One could spend a life time learning about Rome and still never complete the study from rise to fall and everything in between. Something new always pops up for us to drop our jaws at when it comes down to this civilized ancient nation and it's many many impacts on what we call modern society today. In many ways it could be said modern western civilization has a massive Roman hangover.

In this write up I'm not going to cover the things most of us think of when we hear the words Roman Empire. I.e it's military, system of governance, architecture, art, poetry, philosophy, etc. I'd rather go for something that is far more fun to play with and a little gross. So without further adieu let's jump into the rather sinister and altogether gross habits the Romans had when it came to food.

DRINK YOUR CABBAGE.... JUST LET ME GO PEE IT OUT FIRST.

So in modern society we have health trends rise and fall all the time. Some stick and don't go away... like the annoying habit of the middle class house wife who does yoga at a "class" in her best friends living room one day a week and spends the rest of the week sermonizing everyone around her about being "grounded". Gluten free, Atkins diet, caveman diets, all quinoa go soy, apply patchouli and say ommmm a lot.... I'm not saying these things aren't healthy but rather pointing out that they become trends. In this our Roman predecessors were no different. In fact they took health trends right out of being annoying and straight into being gross.

Cato the Elder aka Cato the Wise, Cato the Censor, Cato the Ancient should have been known as Cato the Gross. Like many great Romans of his day and age had distinguished himself early in life by service to the military, but he was also well known for his accomplishments in agriculture. A dedication to agriculture was a sort of character or class marker in those times like golf is today. Romans drew a sharp line between agriculture and horticulture and even the Emperors grew their own vegetables and in this Cato was no different.

I don't know how Cato arrived at the conclusion that drinking the urine of someone who had eaten a large amount of cabbage was the way to go. But the healthy recommendation and all the rage in the mid 3rd and 2nd century BC was doing just that. Of course this health craze didn't stop at drinking urine. It was also recommended that cabbage rich urine could be warmed to wash the eyes, bath babies, and to treat headaches and neck pain. I think what takes the cake here as an odd use of the humble cabbage was the Roman practice of wrapping a steaming bowl of cabbage urine in cloth for the purposes of warming the vagina.

So the next time you are cooking up this wonderful vegetable spare a moment to give it's rather strange history a thought. It is safe to say that with the revival of ancient remedies and practices in modern society.... I'm glad we gave cabbage a miss.

HOT IRONS AND SEWING POULTRY.

I've often thought that to record history in the ancient world required a strong stomach. Plutarch recorded in detail the slaughtering and preparations of Roman meat and wasn't hesitant in voicing his disapproval of certain methods. Like when a pig was killed a hot iron would be shoved down the poor animals throat in the belief it thickened the blood so it would run smoother through the veins and make the meat tender. Or when a female pig was giving birth someone would jump up and down on the udders to mix blood and dirt together and kill the unborn piglets. This was all done so the swollen udders could be served as a delicacy.

Today a great deal of protest hangs around the treatment of geese in France and how foie gras is made. For those who don't know what that it is it's a pâté made from force feeding geese to make their livers mostly fat. This results in a creamy pâté called foie gras. Again we had nothing on our Roman predecessors who would sew the eyes shut of a live crane or swan, and then lock them in a dark room and force feed them spices and other things to flavor meat... Pretty sinister right?

COCKS FOR COCKS AND THE LOSS OF COCKS ON COCKS:

Romans like most states in history loved their laws. One law that directly relates to food was the limiting of the amount of cockerels a citizen could own and eat. So those members of the clever and cruel population found a way of getting around this creating a third category between cockerel and hen. The capons. Capons were created by holding a hot knife up to the genitals of a cockerel until they burst. Then clay was smeared over the wound and the meat became tender over time, thus getting around another law on the fattening of chickens... ouch. I cringe thinking about it.

Another odd custom the Romans had was using the chicken as a statement of romantic intent. Mainly between boys and men. Gaius Petronius wrote a work called Satyricon which was a satirical piece in which one of the characters voices his desire to win the heart of a young man. In it he vows if he can get his attentions he will give him two fighting cocks to secure some hank panky from the young fellow. To hell with metaphor right?

We tend to think Roman food was like Italian food is today. It wasn't. In fact I don't believe Italian food exists as a concrete term simply because the food varies so much by region in that country. Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples, all of them have different cuisine on offer and none of it with the exceptions of things like pizza and pasta is general. In fact pizza and pasta dishes don't even make up the half of it. But from that beautiful peninsula came one of the greatest empires the world has ever known who we took a great deal from. .... I'm just glad we managed to leave a large part of their dietary habits behind.

Well guys that's it for now. Thanks so much for giving this little humble write up a read. I figured I'd do my own take on horrible histories and go one step further into down right gross and sinister. I appreciate you taking the time to give it a look. All the best and keep on Steeming.

Image Credits:
pininterest
Itraditionilist.journal.com
wikipedia
Ancientpages.com
JerusalemPerspective.com