Apicius

Ci sono due possibili livelli di osservazione dell’attività culinaria. Da una parte, la materia (ciò che si prepara in cucina) e la sua rappresentazione codificata (le ricette e i ricettari). Dall’altra, l’ambiente circostante, ovvero tutto ciò che si trova a monte della sua realizzazione: produzione e commercializzazione degli alimenti, livello generale delle tecniche, quadro mentale e istituzioni della società. L’incontro delle cucine occidentali e orientali contribuisce
ulteriormente alla circolazione di mode culinarie, ricette, alimenti ma anche di norme religiose e sociali: una maniera per avvicinarci a una cultura millenaria
che appaga la mente e la gola.

The ancient way of cooking : Apicius in the Middle Ages -Assembled in the late fourth century, the cookbook which tradition has attributed to Apicius had a predominantly medieval destiny. Serving as a practical and living text until the sixth century, it became known from that time onward as a purely literary and dead work. This was notably the case during the Carolingian Renaissance, when the scriptoria of Tours and of Fulda produced manuscripts of the cookbook and where, it seems, Loup de Ferrières, as well as all those who were inspired by it, used Apicius' text. It was afterwards practically forgotten, until its rediscovery in the fifteenth century by the humanists. The credit for this is due not to Poggio, but to Enoch of Ascoli, who brought a manuscript back to Italy.

Studies by the author in experimental archaeology have been dealing with the (re-)production of the ancient Roman meal “puls” since 2012. This porridge puls was mainly prepared with wheat and other grains and it can be considered as the ancient Roman “national dish” par excellence, according to literary evidence. Concerning the recipes, puls is mentioned by the author Cato and especially by a recipe collection attributed to the legendary gourmet and gourmand Apicius. Additionally, puls is also proven by archaeological evidence. Due to the simple preparation, archaeological as well as historical sources, and ethnographic comparisons, it can be assumed that puls was a very common meal in both the civil and military sectors.
The experimental archaeological investigations deal with the production process (both in laboratory and field tests), the physical properties of the porridge puls during the cooking process, and an analysis of the sensory characteristics.

Presentamos en este trabajo las ictiofaunas arqueológicas procedentes de una actividad arqueológica reciente acometida en el Parador de Turismo/ Puerta Califal de la ciudad romana de Septem Fratres (actual Ceuta). La importancia de los restos deriva, en primer lugar, en la escasez de contextos ícticos publicados en la Mauretania Tingitana, completados ahora con
estos hallazgos inéditos, que superan el millar de restos, fechados en momentos avanzados del siglo I d.C.; se presentan dos depósitos cerrados (colmatación de horno alfarero y fosa-pudridero), relacionados respectivamente con un vertido de al menos 10 bacoretas (Euthynnus alleteratus) y 18 grandes
atunes (posiblemente Thunnus thynnus), que permiten avanzar sobre los sistemas de despiece del pescado y sobre la problemática de las técnicas de pesca en estas factorías salazoneras que caracterizaron a las riberas del Fretum Gaditanum en la Antigüedad.

History&Future Journal of Öz Hellen ve Roma toplumlarında damak tadı ve lezzet arayışlarının incelendiği bu çalışmanın amacı adı geçen uygarlıkların yeme-içme alışkanlıklarındaki eğilimleri incelemek ve eğer varsa bu eğilimleri belirleyen kişileri ve bunların toplum içindeki statülerini belirlemektir. Konuyla il-gili bilgiler M.Ö. III. yüzyıldan M.S. IV. yüzyıla kadar uzanan bir zaman diliminde birçok yazar tarafından oluşturulmuştur. Bu çalışmadan bunlar arasından yalnızca bir kısmı ele alınacak ve incelenecektir. Buna ek olarak her iki toplumun hiciv ve komedi yazarlarının eserleri de konuya ilişkin eleştirel bilgiler içermektedir. Çalışmamızda adı geçen eserlerden örnekler verilip yazarın konuya bakışı değerlendirilmeye çalışılacaktır. Yazarlar arasındaki sıralama kronolojiye göre değil konu sınıflandırmasına göre yapılmıştır. Makale Giriş ve Değerlendirme dışında iki başlık altında toplanmıştır. Bu çalışmanın sonunda adı geçen toplumların içinde sosyal statü farklılıklarına bağlı olarak yeme-içme alışkanlıklarında da farklılıklar bulunduğu, her sınıfa uygun yeme içme önerile-rinin farklı yazarlar tarafından yapıldığı anlaşılmıştır. İkincil olarak toplumun üst sınıfına yönelik, zengin içerikli ve pahalı yiyecekleri tanıtan ve lüks tüketimin öncüleri olan yazarlar, filozoflar ve hicivciler tarafından eleştirilmişlerdir. Son olarak doğuya olan ilginin artmasıyla birlikte Hellen ve Roma toplumlarının yemek alışkanlıklarında değişim yaşanmıştır.

O célebre livro de cozinha atribuído ao romano de nome Apício (século I d.C., provavelmente) e intitulado De re coquinaria pela erudição moderna do século XIX, chegou até nós unicamente por meio de três manuscritos medievais datados dos séculos VIII e IX, dois deles provenientes dos mosteiros de Fulda e Tours. Dado importante, porém pouco explorado, tendo em vista que o receituário aparece muito mais associado às cozinhas da Roma Imperial do que aquelas da Idade Média. Partindo da hipótese de que a cópia dos manuscritos apicianos por homens da Alta Idade Média esteja ancorada a aspirações particulares ao momento dinâmico do Renascimento Carolíngio, esta tese procurou traçar o enquadramento sócio-cultural que explica a reprodução e a incorporação do receituário pelos homens e pelas cozinhas de alguns ambientes sociais do período. Para tanto, foi necessário investigar o pensamento altomedieval sobre a comida, a disponibilidade e o acesso ambiental e cultural aos ingredientes apicianos...

Chaque langage spécialisé est, sans aucun doute, bâti sur des termes courants dans la langue. En devenant des termes spécialisés, ils dépassent la langue commune et forment un domaine lexical à part. Dans ce travail, nous nous proposons de montrer comment s'est produite la spécialisation lexicale dans le domaine culinaire, sur la base du procédé de préverbation. Des verbes dont le sens était plus général en latin -y compris des termes désignant des opérations essentiellement culinaires -prennent un sens spécifique culinaire, technique, en se combinant avec un préverbe. Nous avons pris comme base d'analyse le traité culinaire d'Apicius, De re coquinaria, daté au IV ème siècle apr. J. Ch. et considéré comme l'une des sources qui constituent normalement le corpus pour le latin qu'on nomme 'vulgaire'. L'aspect composite du traité conservé sous le nom d'Apicius (qui a vécu au I er siècle apr. J. Ch.) nous fait penser que c'était un autre auteur (d'environ 400 apr. J. Ch), qui ne connaissait pas très bien la cuisine -car il faisait de nombreuses fautes -qui a élaboré une compilation qui réunissait des livres culinaires des périodes différentes, ou, plutôt, de différents cahiers de recettes des chefs.

This article discusses possible eponyms of the dish pullus Frontonianus in the cookbook “De re coquinaria” (Apic. 6, 8, 12). The attribution faces a number of difficulties, such as the authorship and dating of the corpus ascribed to Apicius and the fact that the cognomen Fronto did not belong to one particular nomen gentilicium. The author considers several Frontones: the addressee of Martial’s epigram (I, 55, 2), a rich patron mentioned in Juvenal’s satire (1, 12), and a person who wrote on agriculture and was a contemporary of the emperor Septimius Severus. A special section is dedicated to M. Cornelius, the teacher of Marcus Aurelius and the most famous among Frontones. The article studies both external evidence and the internal logic of the correspondence of M Cornelius Fronto in order to find out his attitude to food and to consider the possibility that the dish was named after him. The author concludes that there are no compelling arguments to attribute pullus Frontonianus with certainty to any of the Frontones discussed.

The main aim of this paper is to analyse the text of the 12th book of Geoponica for the identification of vegetable plants, which were described by Cassianus Bassus. The analysis will serve as the first step for further inquiries that will include the reconstruction of recipes that require some of the vegetables presented in the text.
The text of Geoponica is the basic source to get to know the agriculture but also the culinary art of the Byzantine Empire, even though it is rather hard to read due to the harsh style and quite a large number of technical terms (i.e. botanical, agronomical or astrological to name just a few). As already mentioned, the first part of the analysis is to identify the plants mentioned by Bassus, which will allow me to take further steps, i.e. to reconstruct the culinary recipes, in which the plants mentioned by the Author occur. Without this precise identification, the reconstruction of the recipes will not be possible at all.
In the 12th book of his Geoponica Bassus gave descriptions of several plants that should be taken into consideration while planning the garden, mostly for their medicinal or cooking properties. Amongst them, Author mentioned garlic, artichoke, melon, leek, radish, celery, and cucumbers. Having the rather big number of plants narrowed down will allow to demonstrate in vivo how they were served according to De re coquinaria by Apicius and present the practical usage of vegetables proposed by Bassus for cultivation. As Apicius’ cookbook is the only one preserved from Antiquity, it will remain the major source of the recipes presented in this paper.