In this report, I will tell you about the food the Ancient Romans ate and their way of dining. Now, imagine that you are a wealthy Roman who lives in a beautiful villa and has plenty of servants along with an expensive cook. This is what it would have been like.
In the beautiful house there is a large room. It is the dining room also called the triclinium. The cena, or the most important meal of the day, takes place here in the evening. For this meal, you would invite several guests to dine with you. They would be people of different social standings. Maybe even poor plebeians would come.
Let's take a look at this room. The triclinium was a square room with three sloping couches arranged in the middle. They were put in a square and one side was left open for slaves to come and bring food or clear it. Burning torches lighted the room and there were mosaics on the floor. Some walls were plain with small designs. But others had vast paintings called frescoes on them. Frescoes are paintings that were made on wet plaster. The Romans reclined on couches as they ate and they leaned on their left elbows. All people ate with their right hands. No silverware was used. Instead, the Romans ate with their fingers.
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Ancient_Roman_Dining part 2
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