Early Roman cookery was limited to produce from the immediate area, but as the Roman Empire expanded the diet began to include the ingredients and cooking methods of their new territories, including Greece, North Africa and Britain. Spices and herbs, which needed to be crushed or pounded with a pestle and mortar, were included in many meals. Spices and herbs included salt, pepper, sesame, coriander, caraway and mustard.

We have learnt much about ancient Roman recipes through De Re Coquinaria, a cookery book written by Marcus Gavius Apicius. The Romans were fond of sauces. Defritum was thick fig syrup, passum a sweet thick wine sauce, and liquamen a sauce made out of salty fish. Garum was a dish made out of fish pickled in brine, and left out in the sun to dry and ferment. A Roman 'burger' was made out of a mixture of minced meat, bread soaked with wine, pepper, pine kernels and liquamen. A popular pudding was called Dulcia Domestica, and was made out of dates stuffed with nuts and stewed in red wine and honey.

Meat was not eaten on a daily basis. It was, however, eaten at religious festivals, when animals were sacrificed for the gods and then roasted. Many Romans considered meat to be barbarian food. Pork was the most commonly eaten meat. Fish and poultry were popular, as were duck, geese and quail, and wild birds such as thrushes and wood pigeons. Sardines and herrings were plentiful and cheap, and fish was frequently salted to help preserve it. Fish delicacies included eels, oysters and turtles. Onions and garlic were eaten raw. Cheese, fruit and cake were popular, with honey being the main sweetener. Cakes were often created in the shapes of animals. Vegetables included lentils, peas, radishes, mushrooms and asparagus.

Bread was a staple in the Roman diet and was usually made from wheat and barley. Roman soldiers carried their grain and flour grindstones with them on the march to ensure they always had fresh bread. Bread with high gluten wheat was popular because it held together better and was good to take on a long journey. Soldiers were given barley bread as punishment rations. Very poor people ate a barley cake called maza. They added different ingredients to vary the flavors. The main grain-producing regions that supplied the Roman Empire were North Africa and what is now Southern France. These grain-producing areas had enormous strategic military value.

The picture shows a replica mortarium with two original pottery shards.  You can see how even small fragments can help archeologists and re-enactors to understand  and recreate the form and use of objects.

The Romans used lots of herbs and spices in their cooking, including cumin, coriander, sage, nutmeg, thyme, pepper and ginger. Fresh herbs are mainly leaves and twigs, and spices are hard, dry root or nut-like forms. In order to prepare these herbs and spices for cooking, the Romans had to break them down so that their flavours could be absorbed into the food. Spices have to be ground into a fine dust-like substance, and herbs bruised and crushed to release their flavours and scents.

The mortarium was hand thrown, wide and deep enough for herbs and spices to be mixed energetically without spilling out. A pestle, a hand held club shaped tool, was used to grind and rub the herbs and spices around the bowl. The inside of the mortarium is rough in surface texture to help the grinding process. This surface is created by using tiny sharp pieces of broken pot, which were pressed onto the wet clay before firing.

The mortarium is thick and heavy and has a broad rim to enable the cook to put some energy into grinding and bruising without fear of breakage. A section of the rim has been adapted to form a flat spout to enable the prepared herbs or spices to be poured out of the mortarium into another smaller container or jar.

Mortarium is a Latin word. Today, we call this kind of object a mortar - perhaps you have a pestle and mortar in your kitchen today for grinding spices?