Apicius

Apicius, also known asDe re culinariaorDe re coquinaria(On the Subject of Cooking), is a collection ofRoman cookeryrecipes, which may have been compiled in the fifth century CE,or earlier. Its language is in many ways closer toVulgarthan toClassical Latin, with later recipes using Vulgar Latin (such asficatum,bullire) added to earlier recipes using Classical Latin (such asiecur,fervere).
The book has been attributed to an otherwise unknown Caelius Apicius, an invention based on the fact that one of the two manuscripts is headed with the words "API CAE"or rather because a few recipes are attributed to Apicius in the text: Patinam Apicianam sic facies (IV, 14) Ofellas Apicianas (VII, 2). It has also been attributed toMarcus Gavius Apicius, a Romangourmetwho lived sometime in the 1st century CE during the reign ofTiberius. The book also may have been authored by a number of different Roman cooks from the first century CE.Many of the recipes contain the ingredientsilphium, which is speculated to have become extinct in the first century CE, so this supports the earlier date. However, based on textual analysis, the food scholarBruno Lauriouxbelieves that the surviving version dates only from the fifth century (that is, the end of the Roman Empire): "The history ofDe Re Coquinariaindeed belongs then to the Middle Ages".
The Latin text is organized in ten books with Greek titles, in an arrangement similar to that of a modern cookbook:
Thefoodsdescribed in the book are useful for reconstructing the dietary habits of the ancient world around theMediterranean Basin.But the recipes are geared for the wealthiest classes, and a few contain what were exotic ingredients at that time (e.g.,flamingo). A sample recipe from Apicius (8.6.2–3) follows:
In a completely different manuscript, there is also a very abbreviatedepitomeentitledApici excerpta a Vinidario, a "pocket Apicius" by "an illustrious man" namedVinidarius, made as late as theCarolingian era.The Vinidarius of this book may have been a Goth, in which case his Gothic name may have been Vinithaharjis (𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌹𐌸𐌰𐌷𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌹𐍃), but this is only conjecture. Despite being called "illustrious", nothing about him is truly known.
Apici excerpta a Vinidariosurvives in a single 8th-centuryuncialmanuscript.Despite the title, this booklet is not an excerpt purely from theApiciustext we have today, as it contains material not included in the longerApiciusmanuscripts. Either some text was lost between the time the excerpt was made and the time the manuscripts were written, or there never was a "standardApicius" text because the contents changed over time as it was adapted by readers.
Once manuscripts surfaced, there were two early printed editions ofApicius, inMilan(1498, under the titleIn re quoquinaria) andVenice(1500). Four more editions in the next four decades reflect the appeal ofApicius.  In the long-standard edition of C. T. Schuch (Heidelberg, 1867), the editor added some recipes from the Vinidarius manuscript.
Between 1498 (the date of the first printed edition) and 1936 (the date ofJoseph Dommers Vehling's translation into English and bibliography of Apicius), there were 14 editions of the Latin text (plus one possibly apocryphal edition). The work was not widely translated, however; the first translation was intoItalian, in 1852, followed in the 20th century by two translations intoGermanandFrench. The French translation byBertrand Guéganwas awarded the 1934Prix Langloisby theAcadémie française.