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Ancient Pompeii Diet Consisted of Giraffe and Other "Exotic'" Delicacies
Philip Ross writes "New research into Pompeiians' daily lives is broadening our understanding of this ancient Roman culture, particularly their eating habits, before Mt. Vesuvius brought it all crumbling down nearly 2,000 years ago. Over the past decade, archaeologists excavating a row of building plots discovered remnants of food that would have been widely available and inexpensive in ancient Italy, like grains, fruits, olives, lentils, local fish, nuts and chicken eggs. They also uncovered evidence that Pompeiians enjoyed a variety of exotic foods, some of which would have been imported from outside Italy, including sea urchins, flamingos and even the butchered leg joint of a giraffe."
It didn't matter if it tasted good, the point was you were showing off your ability to buy meat from an animal that lived thousands of miles away.
Nah, donkey tastes like ass.
i don't know why people here are assuming it doesn't taste good...we really have no idea. ...and let's not forget, different cultures have radically different preferences in taste.
it only takes one example, the Asian fondness for the to-our-western-palettes-horrific fruit Durian, to make this point.
never bring a twinkie to a food fight.
Garum liquamen is still in the stores today, still doing the same things it did for the ancient Greeks and Romans. We know it as "fish sauce", with one of the most well-known names being Viet Huong 3 Crabs Fish Sauce.
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Romans eating Giraffe (with honey?) was mentioned in at least one of them.
This was Pompeii, if they couldn't eat it , they fucked it.
Ever seen the "hidden" archaeological findings?
These people didn't have T.V., radio, or internet, but they put on some damn elaborate sex shows.
It was considered normal to put on a show for your house guests.
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!
Sea urchins aren't exotic for Italy. They may be considered an exotic food in North America, but they're indigenous to the Mediterranean and eaten in the region.
At least these animals were dying for a decent purpose: someone's meal. Exotic animals from Africa and Asia were often brought in to the Roman Empire for the simple purpose of being killed in the arena for sport. Of course, the Romans had no concept of "endangered species", nor is it likely that the giraffe was in fact endangered at that point in history(at least, not endangered by humans). And really, your rant makes no sense. It's not as if the tourists to Pompeii are standing around chowing down on roast giraffe legs or smoked tiger ribs. Should we stop eating cows or chickens, animals in abundance now, because they MAY be endangered 2000 years from now?
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
About that giraffe leg:
"I'll have the large horse leg meal please."
"Would you like to go supersize for an extra denarius?"
"Err - yeah. Supersize me."
Any Roman city with self esteem had an arena for gladiator games. Part of these was the mass slaughter of 'exotic' animals. Not just predators such as Lions and Tigers but Flamingo's, Giraf's, Anteloupes and the like. In fact, the capture and import of these animals was big business and Rome emptied entire regions of its wildlife. Lions, for instance, are still extinct in Syria as a result of the capture and transport of Lions to the arena's of Rome. Quite a bit of the meat from these games found it's way to the market and was even given to the poor to show the generosity of the games organizers.
Imagine over-frying the nipples in the fryolator and having to throw out the batch, while a nipple-less wolf stares accusingly at you.
Maybe he nudges the legless frog in the wheel next to him and rolls his eyes.
... I hear they taste like chicken.
WHAT ??? Sea urchins taste like chicken ?? No way!! If you have to find a comparison perhaps caviar is the closer (but still far) one, since you basically eat the eggs of the female urchin.
In any case sea urchins are more of a delicacy or condiment at best, not a consistent source of proteins. If anything because finding them, fishing them (and opening them) requires some dedicated manual effort, which is not easy to scale or automate.
We learn from history that we learn nothing from history - Tom Veneziano
If the history's first FDA-like authority approved of giraffe even for the Chosen, why should we be surprised, the unenlightened pagans ate it?
What is interesting in the article is that the Romans possessed the technology — and the economy — to bring such exotics foods into Italy from thousands of miles away in a manner, that, while possibly expensive, was still affordable for the citizenry.
But we've known of such achievements for ages — Romans, for example, have largely stopped growing wheat in Italy long before Julius Caesar. Because it was cheaper to bring stuff over from Africa. (This made Egypt the place of strategic importance in the later civil wars.)
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
It's the Old Testament where the God of the Israelites rains fire and brimstone on wicked cities. That had already been written.
That's a tall order.
Table-ized A.I.
Yes , it was before Constantine.
Elokiim was, is and will always be, didnt you read the manual?
*Repent!Quit Your Job!Slack Off!The World Ends Tomorrow and You May Die!