HOW TO HOST A ROMAN BANQUET

Sounds easy. Just wrap yourself in a white sheet for a toga, and serve up lots of spaghetti and lasagna.

Wrong. Although male guests would arrive at an ancient Roman banquet dressed in togas, that garment was too heavy and awkward to wear while eating. Instead, most men wore a colorful, less formal robe or tunic called a synthesis. Women wore stolas, long, straight gowns belted around the waist and fastened with decorative pins at the shoulders.

As for the food, the ancient Romans didn't eat pasta or tomatoes. Olives, figs, goat cheese, wine, eggs, pork, fish, and bread were common. But for a fancy banquet, a Roman host chose foods that would demonstrate his wealth and power. The Romans delighted in dining on exotic foods from the farthest reaches of their empire, which extended from northern Africa to Britain. The more sumptuous and rare the food, the better.

It wasn't just the food that was extravagant. A typical banquet started before sundown and often didn't end until the next morning. There were three basic courses: the gustatio, the mensa prima, and the mensasecunda (rather like our modern-day appetizer, main course, and dessert). Each new course was brought into the dining room on a new table (in fact, mensa can mean either "course" or "table") and featured at least two dishes. For a really fancy banquet, a slave would announce each of the dozen or more dishes per course, and musicians, dancers, acrobats, jugglers, and poets would provide entertainment.

Want to host your own banquet? Here's a sample menu and five hints that will help make your party really authentic.

MENU

GUSTATIO

MILK-FED SNAILS, FRIED IN OIL BOILED TREE FUNGI, SERVED WITH PEPPER AND FISH SAUCE

MENSAE PRIMAE

BOILED FLAMINGO, SERVED WITH SPICED DATE SAUCE

BAKED DORMICE, STUFFED WITH PORK AND PINE NUTS

ROAST SUCKLING PIG, STUFFED WITH SMALL BIRDS, SAUSAGE, AND VEGETABLES

ROAST HARE, STUFFED WITH BOILED CHICKEN LIVERS AND BOILED BRAINS

MENSAE SECUNDAE

DATES WITH ALMONDS AND HONEY

YOGURT FLAVORED WITH PEPPER AND FISH SAUCE

HINTS

Wealthy people ate lying down on a triclinium (which meant "three beds" and was also the name for the dining room). The host and the guest of honor were assigned the best spots.

Ideally, there were nine diners, in honor of the nine Muses, sister goddesses of the arts. But invited guests frequently brought their own guests, who'd sit on the edges of the triclinium and were called umbrae, or "shadows."

Make sure guests enter the dining room right foot first, to avoid bad luck. In Roman times, slaves would then wash the guests' hands and feet.

No forks allowed. The Romans ate with their fingers (always with the right hand). A special slave called the scissor would carve large pieces of meat into bite-size pieces.

Guests should bring their own napkins (big ones!). These came in handy not only for wiping messy fingers but were also used to bring home tasty leftovers.

If stuffed dormice aren't to your taste, don't despair. Go ahead and serve foods you like, but try to use lots of spices. The Romans loved expensive spices from faraway China and India and were especially fond of pepper. They did not believe in moderation, preferring to mix so many flavors you couldn't be sure what you were eating (whether this was to show off the host's wealth or to disguise the taste of less-than-fresh food in the days before refrigerators is unclear). One of the most important flavorings was garum or liquamen, a salty sauce made of fermented fish. Modern cookbook authors have compared garum to anchovy paste and soy sauce. You might try adding those to a dish, if you feel courageous. But we recommend:

DATES WITH ALMONDS AND HONEY

Ingredients: 24 pitted dried dates, 24 blanched almonds, 2 teaspoons salt, ¾ cup honey

1. Place an almond inside each date.

2. Roll the stuffed dates in the salt, and arrange on a large dish.

3. Place the honey in a microwave-safe container and microwave on high for 2 minutes.

4. Pour warm honey over the dates. Cool slightly, then serve.

VARIATIONS:

1. Roll the almonds in cinnamon before stuffing them in the dates. (This makes the nuts look more like the date pits. The Romans loved to disguise their food.)

2. Use ground pepper instead of almonds to stuff the dates. (Roman cooks tried to combine sweet, salty, sour, and bitter or spicy flavors in every meal and sometimes even all in one dish.)

Copyright Carus Publishing Company Nov/Dec 2004
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved