Understanding Meals & Foods in Ancient Roman Times

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Learn how (and when) to dine like an ancient Roman citizen

Co-authored by Dash Rendar and Sophie Burkholder, BA

Last Updated: May 19, 2026 Fact Checked

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Common Foods

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Special Delicacies

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Drinks & Desserts

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Dining Habits & Mealtimes

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Ancient Roman Recipes

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Further Learning

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Video

We know a lot about ancient Roman history and mythology, but what about the cuisine of ancient Roman citizens? What did ancient Romans eat, and is it anything like our modern-day diets? We’re here to answer all of your questions with this deep dive into ancient Roman foods, specialty dishes, and more. We’ll also fill you in on ancient Roman mealtimes, and we’ll share some recipes to cosplay gladiator life at home!

What did ancient Romans usually eat?

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An illustration of common ancient Roman foods.

Ancient Roman cuisine revolved around bread, vegetables, and legumes. Lower classes often ate wheat bread, porridge, chickpeas, cabbage, and fish. Upper classes would also dine on delicacies like flamingo and dormouse. Garum, a fish sauce, was hugely popular among all classes, as were fruits like figs and pears.

Section 1 of 6:

Common Foods & Meals in Ancient Rome

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Breads and dairy Breads and grains were an everyday staple in the diets of ancient Romans. The earliest known form of bread was known as an emmer loaf. An emmer loaf was a round, flat loaf made with emmer, a particular species of wheat.^{[1]
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Research source} Lower classes would eat emmer loaves with a dash of salt, while upper classes would pair them with eggs, cheese, honey, milk, or fruit. Later, in the Imperial period of ancient Rome, bread made with standard wheat became available. From then on, elite classes would typically eat white bread, while darker loaves were eaten by middle and lower classes. These loaves were often eaten with olives, cheese, or grapes, and many ancient Romans enjoyed dipping their bread in wine.
- Sweet varieties of bread were made by local bakers. Sweet buns would often be flavored with blackcurrants, red wine, honey, or cinnamon. Fried dough was also popular, especially a type called globi, which is the ancient Roman version of a donut.^{[2]
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- Dairy was a similarly important staple—especially cheese! Cheese was a significant part of the rations given to Roman soldiers, and it was widely used for both nutritional and medicinal purposes.
- Traditional Roman cheeses were made from sheep’s or goat’s milk, and some were soft and salty, while others were smoked and hardened.
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Fruits and vegetables Common fruits in ancient Roman times included apples, pears, figs, grapes, strawberries, blackberries, and quinces. Elderberries, plums, dates, melons, pomegranates, and currants were also popular. These fruits would be eaten fresh when in season, but they’d also be dried and preserved to last throughout the year. Cherries, apricots, and peaches were introduced later in the ancient Roman era. Some of today’s most common fruits, like lemons and oranges, were known to the Romans, but they were largely used as medicine instead of as culinary items.^{[3]
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- As for vegetables, one of the most popular options was cabbage. It was commonly eaten raw or dipped in vinegar, but it could also be served cooked.^{[4]
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- Other vegetables existed, including early versions of Brussels sprouts, peas, and artichokes. However, they were incredibly distinct from the modern versions we eat today.
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Nuts and legumes Nuts and legumes were a major part of the ancient Roman diet; however, Romans didn’t have access to all the varieties that we have today.^{[5]
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Research source} Common legumes included dried peas, fava beans, lentils, and lupins. The most common was the chickpea (or garbanzo bean), which was available in several varieties and was often cooked down into soup broths or roasted as crunchy snacks.
- As for nuts, ancient Romans frequently ate walnuts, pistachios, almonds, chestnuts, hazelnuts, sesame seeds, and pine nuts. Nuts could be enjoyed as a basic snack, but they were also ground as an ingredient for meat glazes, pesto-like sauces, and sweet pastries.^{[6]
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- Ancient weaponry expert Dash Rendar notes that gladiators, in particular, would eat loads of “legumes and beans” to give them extra layers of fat. They intended to fill themselves with “extra mass” to be able to “protect themselves with natural armor.”^{[7]
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Meat, fish, and seafood Many varieties of fish and seafood were common in ancient Rome, while meat was less widely available. Butcher’s meat, in particular, was seen as a rarity that was largely reserved for elites. When meat was available, pork was most popular. Poultry animals like ducks and geese were also common, while beef was almost entirely unavailable. As stated, fish was a much more common protein source, as were snails, oysters, and even oak grubs. However, fish and meat were generally used sparingly, as legumes and vegetables were cheaper and more accessible.^{[8]
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- Milk-fed snails were particularly popular, especially among the elite classes. The snails would be fed milk for several days before being cooked. This was done to give them a richer, creamier taste.^{[9]
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Condiments and garnishes Garum was by far the most popular and important condiment in ancient Rome. Garum was a savory, salty fish sauce that was used to season pretty much any savory dish. It could be made from different types of fish for different flavor notes, such as tuna, sea bass, and mullet. Generally, the entrails of these fish were left in the sun or heated so that they would ferment. The fermented entrails would then be turned into a sauce. Some Romans would also dilute the mixture with wine or water for a variant texture or taste.^{[10]
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- Aside from garum, another popular garnish was silphium. Silphium was an herb that was exclusively grown on Cyrenaica, an island off of Libya. Silphium eventually went extinct, but we know that it had a heart-shaped fruit or seed, and it tasted similar to asafoetida, a pungent Middle Eastern and Indian spice with an onion-garlic-leek flavor.^{[11]
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- Silphium was used in cooking, but it was also used as birth control and for other medicinal purposes.
- And, for a more modern option, ancient Romans frequently used tapenades as condiments. They would combine capers and olives, as well as other herbs and spices, and pair the resulting tapenade with savory meat, vegetable, grain, or legume dishes.

Section 2 of 6:

Specialty Foods & Ingredients in Ancient Rome

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Exotic, luxury foods in ancient Rome included fruit tarts, dormice, and flamingos. Ancient Roman society had clear class divides between the lower classes (or plebeians) and the upper-class elites and equestrians. Certain foods were popular in ancient Rome, but they were only available to the upper classes—and even then, they were considered rare. Here are some of the foods and meals that were considered luxurious delicacies during the Roman Empire:^{[12]
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- Dormice: This delicacy, served stuffed, fried, and eaten whole, was seen as a status symbol among elite Romans.^{[13]
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- Flamingo: Flamingo birds (including their tongues) were widely eaten as a delicacy in ancient Rome.
- Peacock: Peacock meat was often made into meatballs and served to very wealthy Roman citizens.^{[14]
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- Cranes, parrots, and songbirds: Some common birds served as special delicacies. The smaller varieties of these birds were defeathered, cooked, and eaten whole.
- Electric ray: This rare fish was known to be cooked with parsley, mint, honey, garum, sweet wine, mustard, raisins, and other savory additions.^{[15]
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- Fruit tarts: Upper classes ate these often, but lower classes couldn’t afford them.
- Flower bulbs: Beyond today’s edible bulbs like onion and garlic, ancient Romans would also eat the shaved bulbs of hyacinths and other flowers. The bulbs could also be fried in oil and served with special sauces.^{[16]
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Section 3 of 6:

Drinks & Desserts in Ancient Rome

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Wine was the main beverage consumed by ancient Romans. It was usually served diluted with water, as the alcohol percentage of ancient wine was quite high.^{[17]
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Research source} Wine could be made from grapes, but it could also be made with raisins or mixed with honey and spices for a more complex flavor. One popular drink was called posca—it was made with sour wine that was mixed with water and herbs. Posca was very popular with the lower classes, and it was drunk frequently by Roman soldiers.^{[18]
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- Beer was available in ancient Rome, but it was thought to be vulgar and barbarian-like (or, in other words, it was associated with anyone living outside the borders and culture of the Roman Empire).^{[19]
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Popular desserts included fresh fruits, sweet pastries, and sponge cakes. Fruits featured in nearly every dessert of ancient Roman times. Fresh fruit platters were hugely popular, especially those containing sweet fruits, which made up for the lack of modern sweeteners like refined sugar or churned butter. Other popular desserts included sweet pastries, like spira, and enkythoi, which is similar to a honeyed sponge cake.
- One important dessert was called libum, and it was essentially a cheesecake-like mixture of ricotta cheese, flour, and eggs. The cake was baked and drizzled with honey, and it was often offered as a sacrificial bread for Roman gods.^{[20]
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Section 4 of 6:

Dining Habits & Mealtimes in Ancient Rome

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As the ancient Roman equivalent of breakfast, ientaculum was traditionally served at dawn in order to break the fast of the previous night. Ientaculum meals were usually quick, simple, and easy. A common ientaculum would feature wine- or honey-dipped bread, cheese, olives, and dried fruits. For poor citizens and slaves, however, most ientaculum meals would consist of a simple bowl of porridge or a plain hunk of bread.^{[21]
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The largest meal of the day was the midday cena, followed by the lighter vesperna. In the early periods of ancient Rome, cena was the main and largest meal of the day, and it was eaten around lunchtime. Vesperna was eaten later in the day, like a modern dinner, but it was a very light meal compared to the cena. Over time, however, the cena became a larger and larger meal. Eventually, it became an evening meal, and the vesperna became obsolete. Instead, a new meal called prandium would be eaten in the middle of the day, usually consisting of something light to fill one up until cena came along.^{[22]
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- One of the most common cena meals for working class ancient Roman was a type of porridge known as puls. A simple puls was made from emmer, water, salt, and some type of fat. More advanced versions would be made with olive oil and served with assorted vegetables.
- Wealthier citizens would also eat puls, but they’d pair it with eggs, cheese, honey, meat, and/or fish.
Most lower-class Roman citizens couldn’t make hot foods in their homes, as they mostly lived in multi-storied wooden buildings. So, to get hot food, they would venture out to popinae (sometimes called thermopylae). These food shops would have counters where various foods (e.g., meatballs, lentils, fritters, etc.) could be scooped up and served to patrons—similar to a modern-day deli counter. Many popinae also had stoves available for public use, so that people could boil their own meats and vegetables and take them back to their homes. Some popinae also had seating areas where customers could eat.^{[23]
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It was rare (and generally frowned upon) for upper-class citizens to eat at popinae and other public food shops. Instead, they’d often host convivium dinner parties at their homes. Hosts would gather a large number of colleagues and acquaintances to enjoy a three-course cena meal. The three courses generally included an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert.^{[24]
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Section 5 of 6:

Ancient Roman Recipes

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Homemade Roman Cheese Pour 1 gallon (3.8 L) of organic whole milk into a large or extra-large saucepan. Place the saucepan over heat and stir constantly until the milk is almost boiling. When the milk is just beginning to smoke but is not yet boiling, remove the saucepan from heat and immediately stir in ¹⁄₂ cup (120 mL) of distilled white vinegar. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes. In the meantime, line a strainer with a cheesecloth and place the strainer over a large pot or bowl inside of your sink.^{[25]
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- After the milk mixture has sat for 10 minutes, pour it over the cheesecloth to separate the curds from the liquid.
- Stir 1 and ¼ teaspoons of salt into the liquid in the bowl, then pour the salty mixture over the curds in the strainer. Let the curds drain in the strainer for one hour. Discard any remaining liquid.
- Once the curds have finished draining, tighten the cheesecloth around them. Then, loosen your cheesecloth, gently scoop out the cheese inside, and transfer the cheese into a large glass or porcelain bowl.
- Use your hands to mold the cheese into a ball, then cover it with plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator.
- This recipe makes one 4 inches (10 cm) round of cheese. Store the cheese in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
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Lucanian Sausage Combine and thoroughly mix these ingredients, either by hand or with a food processor: 1 pound (450 g) minced pork belly, 2 tablespoons pine nuts, 20 black peppercorns, 1 teaspoon of chopped rue (fresh or dried), 2 teaspoons of dried savory, 1 heaping teaspoon of ground cumin, 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper, 2 teaspoons of chopped fresh parsley, and 3 tablespoons of fish sauce. Optionally, mix in 30 fresh bayberries.^{[26]
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- Gather six 12 inches (30 cm) sausage skins. If your skins are fresh, wash them before using. Then, tie a knot at the end of each one.
- Next, place a ¹⁄₂ inch (13 mm) plain tube in a piping bag and fill the bag halfway up with your sausage mixture.
- Take the open end of your first skin, pull it over the tube, and repeatedly push it down until most of your skin sits halfway down the tube. Grip this part of the skin with your fingers, then slowly release the skin as you squeeze the bag and fill the skin with the mixture.
- Stop filling the skin when about 2–3 inches (5.1–7.6 cm) of it is left unfilled. When you’ve used up all of the meat, twist each length of sausage into four equal segments.
- For truly authentic Roman sausages, you’ll want to smoke them (although it’s okay if you don't have this option). If you do, drape your sausages over a coat hanger and suspend them in smoke. You can do this with a culinary smoker, over an open fireplace while burning wood for a few hours, or over a wood chip barbecue for about one hour.
- To cook your sausages, grill them over medium heat.
- This recipe makes 24 sausages, or approximately six servings.
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Honey Cake Preheat your oven to 350º F (177º C) and place a rack in the center of the oven. Grease and lightly flour a 9 inches (23 cm) cake pan. Pour the following ingredients into a large bowl: 2 cups (250 g) flour, 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt, 3 teaspoons coriander, and 3 teaspoons pepper. Whisk all of these ingredients together until thoroughly combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together 2 eggs and 1 egg yolk. Into this same bowl, whisk 1 cup (215 g) olive oil, 1 cup (215 g) honey, and ¼ cup (60 g) sweet white wine.^{[27]
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- Whisk your dry ingredients in with your wet ingredients until the mixture is smooth. Then, mix in 2 tablespoons of raw pine nuts and 3 tablespoons of chopped raw almonds.
- Pour the resulting batter into your pan and place it into the oven. Bake for about 45-50 minutes, or until your cake is lightly bouncy to the touch.
- Transfer the cake pan to a wire rack to cool, and let it rest for about 20 minutes. Remove the cake from its pan.
- Now, heat 5 tablespoons of honey in a small saucepan and mix in 2 tablespoons of chopped toasted hazelnuts. Drizzle this mixture over the cake, then let it cool completely before serving.
- This recipe makes one cake that serves about 8-10 people. It’s best eaten the same day, but can be kept for up to two days covered at room temperature.

Section 6 of 6:

Further Learning on Ancient Roman Foods

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Want to learn more about ancient Roman cuisine? We don’t blame you! The culinary world of ancient Roman citizens is pretty interesting, so you may want to do some more reading on the sweet, snacks, and savory meals of plebeians and elites alike. Below, we’ve gathered some authoritative sources and recipe books on Roman foods, meals, and more:
- Around the Roman Table: Food and Feasting in Ancient Rome by Patrick Faas
- A Taste of Ancient Rome by Ilaria Gozzini Giacosa
- Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome by Apicius
- Feast of Sorrow: A Novel of Ancient Rome by Crystal King
- Food History: The Roman Banquet (documentary episode)
- The Supersizers Eat…Ancient Rome (BBC TV episode)