How The Ancient Romans Lived?

Imagine having a diet that consisted mostly of cereal, fruits, and vegetables and meat was only eaten on rare occasions. It would get boring, right? Well that’s how the Ancient Romans lived. They had grains and cereal at their main disposal and if they had a garden or field so they could plant crops then they were set. Other than that they bought their food from the market place. They only meat when they had money or on special occasions. Food traditions and what they ate in Rome are similar and different to what people eat today in what their main diet is, rare meals, and events in which they had all the extravagant food. The Romans mostly had a diet that consisted of grains. “Cereal was the main part of their diets” (Cartwright). Cereal
“Poultry and wild game were important sources of meat” (Cartwright). When the Romans wanted meat they had to hunt it themselves or go to the market to buy it, but meat back then was expensive and most people couldn’t afford it so they would save up most of the year and then buy it for special occasions like thanksgiving or Christmas. Therefore, meat was often a rare item for the common people of Rome. “Game such as rabbit, hare, boar, and deer could also be farmed in large enclosed areas of forest” (Cartwright). With the men and boys off at school and work they had very little time to hunt and in the day in age women and girls didn’t hunt. “Partridges, pheasants, geese,…just about any sizeable exotic bird,…could find itself in the cooking pot of an aristocrat’s chef” (Cartwright). There was also fishing, but again, men and boys were busy and women just didn’t fish or hunt. “Fish could be eaten smoked, dried, fresh, salted, or prickled” (Cartwright). It was also “useful protein” (Cartwright). Although these were rare delicacies there was a supply and demand that they people and merchants of Rome worried
There is a demand for something and they merchants and hunters etc. have to supply it. “As Rome grew there was a greater demand for the variety of food Rome offered” (Cartwright). They used different forms of making food as taxes “Grain was a form of tax in Italy and Africa” (Cartwright). They had to restock the market almost every day. “Food market was daily” (Cartwright). Supply and demand ended up going crazy that the “Church took over the responsibilities of maintaining regular food supply” (Cartwright). Food was often prepared and cooked by time the buyer or eater was ready to eat. “Roman towns had inns [cauponae] and taverns [popinae] where patrons could buy prepared meals and enjoy a drink of cheap wine [beer was only consumed in the northern provinces of the empire]” (Cartwright). When the Romans didn’t want to get pre prepared food then they could go to bakeries where they could make their own food. “Bakeries could provide the sufficiently hot ovens needed for bread-making, where often customers brought their own bread dough and used only the bakeries oven to bake it”