page_title: Food and dining in the Roman Empire
section_title: Oils and fat
hierarchical_section_title: Food and dining in the Roman Empire / Food / Oils and fat
caption_attribution_description: meule à volubilis au Maroc
context_page_description: Food and dining in the Roman Empire reflect both the variety of food-stuffs available through the expanded trade networks of the Roman Empire and the traditions of conviviality from ancient Rome's earliest times, inherited in part from the Greeks and Etruscans. In contrast to the Greek symposium, which was primarily a drinking party, the equivalent social institution of the Roman convivium was focused on food. Banqueting played a major role in Rome's communal religion. Maintaining the food supply to the city of Rome had become a major political issue in the late Republic, and continued to be one of the main ways the emperor expressed his relationship to the Roman people and established his role as a benefactor. Roman food vendors and farmers' markets sold meats, fish, cheeses, produce, olive oil and spices; and pubs, bars, inns and food stalls sold prepared food.
  Bread was a meaty food for Romans, with more well-to-do people eating wheat bread and poorer people eating barley bread. Fresh produce such as vegetables and legumes were important to Romans, as farming was a valued activity. A variety of olives and nuts were eaten.
context_section_description: Olive oil was fundamental not only to cooking, but to the Roman way of life, as it was used also in lamps and preparations for bathing and grooming. The Romans invented the trapetum for extracting olive oil. The olive orchards of Roman Africa attracted major investment and were highly productive, with trees larger than those of Mediterranean Europe; massive lever presses were developed for efficient extraction. Spain was also a major exporter of olive oil, but the Romans regarded oil from central Italy as the finest. Specialty blends were created from Spanish olive oil; Liburnian Oil (Oleum Liburnicum) was flavored with elecampane, cyperus root, bay laurel and salt.
  Butter was mostly disdained by the Romans, but was a distinguishing feature of the Gallic diet. Lard was used for baking pastries and seasoning some dishes.
caption: An olive mill from Volubilis, present-day Morocco
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