food and drink
food and drinkThe ancient diet was based on cereals, legumes, oil, and wine. Cereals, especially wheat and barley, were the staple food and the principal source of carbohydrates. They were eaten in many different ways, e.g. as porridge and bread. The rich could afford a more diversified diet and ate less cereal than the poor. Athenaeus describes many types of bread and cakes. Probably only the rich could afford ‘white’ bread, but even the best bread available in antiquity was much coarser than modern bread.
Legumes (field beans, peas, chick-peas, lentils, lupins, etc.), a common find in archaeological excavations at Pompeii, were an important part of the diet. They were incorporated into bread and complemented cereals because they are a rich source of protein.
The Greeks used the generic term opson for ‘food eaten with bread or other cereal products’ (sitos and...
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