Milford chronicle., 1904-03-25
ANCIENT ROMAN SEASONING.
The Commands Took Medicine and
Foods Together.


Foods Together.
OF recent years several men who
have INDUCED freely their taste Of high
living have died as a result OF 100
hearty meal or because some one OF
the dishes failed to agree with them
, In this decidedly practical age, while
the physical part of man is neglected
| in the mental stress of the times, at
| the same time, strangely enough, much
| attention is being given TO our physical
| welfare. One is the result of the other'
of course. 4 boxer undergoes care
ful medical examination before he en-
| ters the ring.
In these DAYS of luxurious feasts,
where the digestion is severely taxed !
as the palate is pleased, it is not uh |
likely that the services Of a physician
may play a not unimpOrtant part. ms
will not be an innovation, however Tor
the custom is older than the Christian
ora but it is unlikely that, like the
Romans. we will ever mix medicines
with the food, so that they may serve
at the same time as a seasoning ana
remedy.
In a preparation Of a Roman feast
the doctor made out the menu ana
gave it to the head cook or purveyor'
who obtained the articles mentioned IN
it. The Romans seasoned thelr Hea'
with rue, parsley seed, cumin' marsn,
mallows and nettles and distrlDuteu
freely throughout their meals pepper
honey. salt, vinegar, raisins, mustard
oil rue. mastic and cardamoms. Nege-
tables were prepared with inter TO
make them look green, practice not
an+iraly unknown in modern times.
The following is one of the singular
recipes that have come down through
tbe dark ages: "Bruise in mortar
parsley seed, dried pennyroyal, DRIED
mint. ginger. corander, stoned ralslhS'
with honey, vinegar. oil and wine Put
| in q s,eNpan with three crusts OF
| bread the flesh of a Pullet Vestlhe
! cheese, pine kernels, small onions
J minced fine, and cucumbers. foui
-, SOM over The mixture and serve IN q
's stewpan. garnished with snow 1t Is
presumed that the ingredients required
in it had been previously cooked.
- The quantities of food served wer'
something astonishing. Julius Cesar
~ when he gave his triumphal feast ha'
~ +bree tons of lampreys served at his Ia
=, ble and when Hortensius passed ava.
- to n world where gormandizing is un
= known he left behind as being incon
No venient to take along with hlm lO'uO
40 pipes of those strong Wines seasoAe
- with asafetida ana other denominations
70 single glass of which would drive
ri. modernswine drinker crazy.
h. Among the Roman emperors note
-. for the indulgence Of their appetite
~ were Vitellius, Commodus, Didius' J'
~ lianus and Heliogabalus, the last
~, whom made sausages of shrimp
- crabs. oysters and Holsters that mlgi
m. have been excellent if the seasonln
-ha was simple and appropriate.
81 The shellfsh thus served might ha'
nv resembled a salad of the same mat
The rails as it appears on modern tables
certain ingredients were omitted. Du
-, ing this period of luxury a wealth
+I,a citizen had a supper made OF tonSu
- - of birds that could speak, which seen
- imnossible when we consider the sea
~ on which meals were then served al
u. +he comparative scarcity of the 1eal
Of cred species in question.
'ta These extravagances in eating al
~ ~ drinking continued in milder form 1
'0 some hundreds of years, while the el
pire was steadily declining, or un
the Goths and Vandals overran +
aue .' rome and taught the effeminate Roma
i u that the best sauce to meat was go
cur cur, appetite engendered by the fatigue
"nI long marches, rough living and an
AM anu casional period of fasting thrown in
49, Kansas City Star