Ancient Recipes: Roman, Greco-Roman & Anglo-Saxon Feasts

🍇 Ancient Recipes: Roman, Greco-Roman & Anglo-Saxon Feasts

“A Taste of Rome” mosaic – Archaeological Institute of America

Cooking from ancient sources is both thrilling and uncertain. Ingredients may be vague, measurements rare, and cooking methods only hinted at. Yet in those gaps lies the joy of discovery — where historical interpretation meets modern experimentation.

The recipes here draw primarily from:

• Apicius – A Roman culinary collection from the 4th–5th century CE
• Galen – A 2nd-century Greco-Roman physician writing on diet and health
• Anglo-Saxon texts – Including food-as-remedy from early herbals and reconstructed dishes based on linguistic and archaeological sources

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🏛️ Early Roman – Push for Pennsic Feast (July 9–11, 2004)

• Cucumeres (Braised Cucumber)
• Lucanicae (Grilled Sausages)
• Epityrum (Olives)
• Moretum (Herbed Cheese Spread)
• Piadina (Flatbread)
• Petaso paro Mustacei (Smoked Ham with Sweet Wine Cakes)
• Erebinthoi Knakosymmigeis (Chickpeas with Saffron)
• Krambe (Roman Cabbage)
• Itria (Sesame Seed Biscuit)
• Basyniai (Fig and Walnut Cakes)
• Assorted Fresh & Dried Fruit
• Sugared Nuts

🏺 Roman Recipes from Ceilidh XV (March 9, 2002)

• Rosatum (Rose Wine)
• Aliter Sala Cattabia – Snow-Cooled Alexandrian Loaf (Cumin bread stuffed with chicken, cheese, onions, pine nuts, and capers)
• Aliter Cymas – Roman Coleslaw (Boiled Cabbage Salad)
• Lenticula de Castaneis (Lentils with Chestnuts)
• Farcimina (Sausages)
• Pullus Farsilis (Stuffed Chicken in Sour Sauce)
• Trimalchio’s Pastry Eggs (Stuffed Eggs with Shrimp or Chicken, wrapped in Pastry)
• Betas (Raisin-Stuffed Beets)
• Caroetae Frictae (Fried Carrots)
• Aliter Porros (Char-Broiled Leeks)
• Apothermum sic Facies (Bulgur with Nuts and Raisins)
• Dulcia Domestica – Homemade Sweet (Stuffed Dates in Honey)

⚔️ Anglo-Saxon Recipes from Ceilidh XVI (March 29, 2003)

Inspired by Tastes of Anglo-Saxon England by Mary Savelli

• Mearh Smeamete – Sausage Casserole
• Hlaf – Bread
• Æppla Syfling – Apple Butter
• Caules Wyrtmete – Cabbage Salad
• Hriðer Smeamete – Stewed Beef
• Beren Briw – Barley Polenta
• Hunigbæe Moran – Honeyed Carrots
• Sciellfisc – Shellfish*
• Brǣdan Fisc – Fish Baked with Coriander (Apicius)
• Pisan – Peas with Salt and Oil*
• Sumerlio rnearhgehæcc – Summer Pudding***
• Hunigæppel – Honey Nut Cakes

If you’d like to learn more about how these early recipes fit into broader food history, visit our Cooking Through the Centuries page.