Roman Soldiers Never Tasted These Italian Food Staples

In this video we look at staples of Italian cuisine that were never seen or tasted by Roman soldiers. Tomatoes, pasta and pizza were all off the menu, as were potatoes. Mark Hatch from the Roman Military Research Society explains that the mainstay of the Roman soldier's diet was the less appetising puls or porridge, made from ground wheat.

[InspiringBard]

Eat your liquid bread, soldier, we have a 60 mile march in full kit today.

[scoobydoo]

No tomatoes or potatoes?! No wonder the Roman Empire expanded so far; they were hungry and looking for food.

[hansdampf]

Most people would be surprised how young most staples of their local cuisine are

[Nick-higx]

Very little beef until near the end of the unified Roman Empire.
Lots of lentils, lots of fish and sea food when immediately available, like a garrison colony along a river or coast. Lots of pork, salted and prepared in a number of different ways. Lots of olive oil, and simple sauces made from oil and garum (a fish sauce) or a similar sauce if they could afford it.

[mikeythaboi]

Could you imagine getting back to camp after a long day of marching and realize you forgot to grind the wheat earlier?

Edit: at least someone thinks I'm funny, I'm gonna show this to my mom

[shannondavis]

Don’t forget, they also got Vegetables, when available, such as cabbage, leeks, garlic, radishes, beets, turnips, and wild carrots. Beans and lentils were also staple. As well as Olive Oil, Olives, Pears, and Figs. They imported Garum Fish Sauce and traded it across the empire including outposts. Then there was the meat. Mutton or Pork rations mainly but also Beef when in beef rich areas. Legions near the sea would also have large amount of fish and mollusks in their diet. They didn’t survive on Bread and Liquid Bread Porridge only. Perhaps the lowest classes did. But a soldier lives and marches on his stomach.

[globalchaos]

God if I had to eat like that everyday I wouldn't be afraid to die either😂

[dohnjoe]

All my soldiers in Mount & Blade subsist entirely on bags of grain: historically accurate.

[johnkatsaros]

The word pizza (pitza) is related to the word pita. It means flat bread. It has been around forever in southern italy. They just started adding tomato sauce in the 19th century.

[kxsmarion]

I'm a Reenactor myself and I tell you that Puls is probably the blandest porridge you would ever eat on its own. Just to add some taste we use to mix it with honey and salt. Most likely the Romans did the same thing.

[Cj-jwuw]

Actually cool to hear about how different their lifestyles were to what I imagined

[CrniWuk]

One thing every military apparantly does since the dawn of time :

Digging and marching.

[trainknut]

Everyone: “how come Europeans were so hellbent on colonization?”
European cuisine for a thousand years before colonization: *_wheat slop_*

[GospelMindset]

"Sir, we need protein!"

"Eat your bread soup and like it, soldier"

[onibformi]

There was Pasta similar to
lasagne plates today. they made these for longer shelf life and simple storage.

[pharaohphoenix]

Wonder what people thousands of years from now will look back on my era as culinarily devoid.

_”What, you’re telling me they didn’t have ANY globnorb in the 21st century?! No schubnubs WHATSOEVER?! How did they even exist?!”_

[eshanroveran]

Fun fact, Gauls and more northern “barbarians” typically were taller than the Italian Romans due to the fact that they actually ate a lot of meat (comparatively) to the Romans who had a far less diverse diet of mostly grain.

[raylovelace]

Best forum I've been been in all week.
Thank you, everyone!

[zacharywranovsky]

Whether or not the ancient Roman’s had pasta is a bit debated, mainly because of Etruscan paintings in tombs that depict what looks like pasta being made

[jesselerch]

I learned that roman soldiers also were issued a wine grape start they carried until they arrived at their new station that would eventually grow and contribute to the wine rations issued.