Taverna offered good food and drink for little money
- Scott Daniels: We Ate Well and Cheaply
- June 27, 2024
- 702
Recently, there was a minor online kerfuffle as the information spread that men in the United States think about the ancient Roman empire quite often — daily, in fact. It is unsurprising the Romans are still in our frequent collective memory. Their advancements were extraordinary. Many of their roads, water mains and bridges are still in use, and they developed concrete that is still holding their buildings up today.
Back to our century. It’s lunchtime, and you have a little time from work to grab something to eat. At a nearby coffee shop, brunch spot or restaurant, you go and order something quick — a sandwich or some soup, perhaps a salad or pizza. With a drink on the side, you’re good to go. Conversely, your job may offer a little more time, meaning you can go for something a little less rushed but more pricey. Ah, the unique world of 21st century life. No one has ever had it as we do in 2024.
Except they did, as was discovered in 2019, with the story only now being more fully understood. Excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum have been ongoing for a couple hundred years, both cities having been buried alive by the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 AD. Their secrets are being slowly revealed. Section by section, 2000 years of volcanic ash, sediment and soil are dug away to reveal the preserved Roman cities.
A nearly completely intact thermopolium has been revealed in Pompeii, and it’s one of dozens of such places that have been found. Thermopolium translates roughly as “hot table.”
They were the fast food stalls of their day, with round openings in the front counter from which the proprietor could dip out servings of soup or stew. There were illustrations painted on the walls to show you might be having fish, poultry or goat. Simple fare might be some soup, a little cheese, some bread, olives and a cup of wine. We know the wine or beer differed greatly in quality and price. There were better things to eat for those with a little money to spend. There might be some fish preserved in salt or dried or smoked, some eggs and fresh vegetables. The Romans appear to have favored onions and radishes as sides.
Pompeii was a resort town, a place where Romans went to rest and have fun with lots of entertainment available. Yet it is a good representation of the time and that world. Today, so much of the city has been dug out that it indeed is looking like a city again, with more plots yet to be researched. Over the centuries ghoulish looters have tunneled into homes and businesses, bent on robbing the still-present victims of their treasure. Still, much remains intact including those fascinating thermopolium.
I think it’s wonderful to imagine. Romans rose in the morning, took their chamber pot to the nearest public bathroom to empty, ate a little bread and leftovers from the night before, and went about their day. Few could afford a proper home and lived in rented rooms without means for cooking. Those early taverna offered nourishment for little money and access to the only warm food a Roman stonemason or tiler or scribe might get. Some of the eateries had room for seating for those so inclined. Some had standing counter service while others were grab and go, squat and gobble affairs. Just as today, right here in our community, you might get lunch at a drive-thru burger place but also could go get a table for a seated meal, dessert and drinks with friends.
Pompeii is teaching us an infinitely renewable lesson — that even across the centuries, people’s lives remained unchanged in basic ways. Even 2,000 years ago, people got out of bed, got ready for the day, ate a little something, and lived their lives among family, friends, joys, sorrows and frightening setbacks, just like us.
A cheeseburger, fries and a Coke are the new lentil stew, bread and onion.