In Rome/Pompeii the
food was extremely extravagant, it was a main part of their culture. They ate
all kinds of things from jellyfish to duck tongues, in fact they even think
that they found giraffe in their diet, so this section will talk about everyone's
diet from rich to poor even slaves.
![Picture](/uploads/4/9/1/5/49155047/8927121.jpg?462)
Where they got there food from:
The Romans grew much of their food. They used the Egyptian peasants as a work force, and used them to ensure that they had enough food to feed themselves first.
They had bakeries were they would make fresh bread every morning they ground it up using big grinders and donkeys to move these grinders.
During the Roman time, much of the crops were raised on large estates known as Latifundia (farmland). Latifundia could hold livestock (sheep and cattle) or it could be used for cultivation of olive oil, and wine. Grain they had to import that from places like Egypt. The farms were staffed by slaves from conquered countries, and the poor.
The had fishing boats and Pompeii especially used there advantage of being by the sea and started producing this rancid fish guts concoction, called Garem. Garem is made by catching a fish and gutting it while it is still alive, then you put the fish guts in a big barrel with lots of salt and leave it in the sun to rot and go rancid, the put Garem on almost everything it was like ancient tomato sauce.
A some of the really extravigatente pieces of food were imported.
Traditionally in the morning, a breakfast called the ientaculum (breakfast)was served at dawn. At around 11:00 am, Romans ate a small lunch, and had big dinners, some dinners were massive and some were tiny depending on who you are.
Who ate what food:
Everyone had roles in Rome/Pompeii and everyone would eat something different depending on your role in society. These are some dishes from each role in life
slaves and the very poor: Slaves in ancient Rome what slaves eat & drink, Poor Romans ate mostly vegetables with porridge and bread, only having a piece of meat when available, they had water and nothing fancy ever
working men/woman: bread was eaten every day
rich men/woman: the rich were very into their food, they would even get slaves to tickle the back of their throats so they would vomit and could keep eating, they would eat many strange delicacy's and these are just a few of the many things
mora eel
brain omlete
bearly cooked quail eggs
slugs
jellyfish
and swollen goose livers