09-11-2007, 12:38 PM
That would depend on what you depict, I guess. A Roman army on the march, under tight discipline or moving in the vicinty of an enemy army, would live on its rations. That means predominatly whatever wheat variety is available, transported unground. IN transit through friendly or conquered territory, or in enemy country away from the main force, the food spources would be more varied and richer. A smaller troop detail likely eats what the locals eat (or would have eaten hadn't the soldiers come by). I don't think Roman armies would have done much hunting or fishing - there are very few areas that could have supported the needs of large bodies of troops for even a day or two, so most would come back empty-handed. Small details, on the other hand, probably did, at least when not on the move. Local purchase or plunder was always a possibility, but would, of course, depend on where you are.
As to the rations carried, I am notorious for not buying the story of highly disciplined, standardised, spartan legionaries. Of course the majority of rations carried would be grain because that was what people ate. If I had the choice, I'd always pick hardtack, but it's likely that wasn't always available. Beyond that, I feel pretty sure that most Roman soldiers were perfectly happy to carry (or sneak into available transport) whatever they could lay their hands on to improve their food. Therefore I would take as possibly available, at least in small-ish quantities, oil, vinegar, cheese, bacon, sausage, salt or dried fish, dried fruit, dried vegetables, peas, lentils, fava beans, salt, herbs, spices, and, of course, garum.
In a marching camp, economy of effort would dictate the troops ate mush. After marching through the day and building camp, will you grind your coren to flour and bake bread? Or will you gnaw unbreakable hardtack? Not if you can get either boiled wheat or bread porridge. Soldiers carried cooking utensils (most likely metal IMO) to do that, and an eight-man pot once bubbling away needs hardly any attention, so you've freed up a man for other duties or rest. The meal has the added virtue of working with almost anything you can find - just chuck it in. Incidentally, I have no evidence that the Romans parboiled wheat or pulses, but the technique is pretty obvious and I'd be a bit surprised if they hadn't, so making mush would be even quicker (raw dried wheatberries take rather long to cook). In the absence of parboiling, dried bread makes the best mush base.
In a longer-lasting camp, you'd see the stereotypical soldier bread 'baked in the ashes'. This can be just coarsely ground meal and water, but the Romans understood well how to enrich breads with cheese, oil, egg or other ingredients. And once you have a fire and a modicum of time, people tend to get creative. I'm by no means an accomplished open-fire cook, but I've done fritters, pan-baked flatbread, eggs cooked in the ashes, fish roasted on hot stones, milk curds and meat-veggie-soup in one fire with a pot and a pan. It's not hard even with fairly basic ingredients. If you have a mortar on hand, you can make moretum or use the fresh cheese to make libum. Or, if you want to be extravagant, grab some honey, fresh cheese and flour and boil the mixture in water, sealed in a pottery vessel. The vessel needs to be smashed after (so try to avoid any expensive replicas) and you have a sweet poudding. The recipe is from Cato - I have no other evidence for the technique but it should also work for savory bread puddings.
As to the rations carried, I am notorious for not buying the story of highly disciplined, standardised, spartan legionaries. Of course the majority of rations carried would be grain because that was what people ate. If I had the choice, I'd always pick hardtack, but it's likely that wasn't always available. Beyond that, I feel pretty sure that most Roman soldiers were perfectly happy to carry (or sneak into available transport) whatever they could lay their hands on to improve their food. Therefore I would take as possibly available, at least in small-ish quantities, oil, vinegar, cheese, bacon, sausage, salt or dried fish, dried fruit, dried vegetables, peas, lentils, fava beans, salt, herbs, spices, and, of course, garum.
In a marching camp, economy of effort would dictate the troops ate mush. After marching through the day and building camp, will you grind your coren to flour and bake bread? Or will you gnaw unbreakable hardtack? Not if you can get either boiled wheat or bread porridge. Soldiers carried cooking utensils (most likely metal IMO) to do that, and an eight-man pot once bubbling away needs hardly any attention, so you've freed up a man for other duties or rest. The meal has the added virtue of working with almost anything you can find - just chuck it in. Incidentally, I have no evidence that the Romans parboiled wheat or pulses, but the technique is pretty obvious and I'd be a bit surprised if they hadn't, so making mush would be even quicker (raw dried wheatberries take rather long to cook). In the absence of parboiling, dried bread makes the best mush base.
In a longer-lasting camp, you'd see the stereotypical soldier bread 'baked in the ashes'. This can be just coarsely ground meal and water, but the Romans understood well how to enrich breads with cheese, oil, egg or other ingredients. And once you have a fire and a modicum of time, people tend to get creative. I'm by no means an accomplished open-fire cook, but I've done fritters, pan-baked flatbread, eggs cooked in the ashes, fish roasted on hot stones, milk curds and meat-veggie-soup in one fire with a pot and a pan. It's not hard even with fairly basic ingredients. If you have a mortar on hand, you can make moretum or use the fresh cheese to make libum. Or, if you want to be extravagant, grab some honey, fresh cheese and flour and boil the mixture in water, sealed in a pottery vessel. The vessel needs to be smashed after (so try to avoid any expensive replicas) and you have a sweet poudding. The recipe is from Cato - I have no other evidence for the technique but it should also work for savory bread puddings.
Der Kessel ist voll Bärks!
Volker Bach
Volker Bach
