In this video we look at staples of Italian cuisine that were never seen or tasted by Roman soldiers. Tomatoes, pasta and pizza were all off the menu, as were potatoes. Mark Hatch from the Roman Military Research Society explains that the mainstay of the Roman soldier’s diet was the less appetising puls or porridge, made from ground wheat.
And just to clear up no tomatoes absolutely not tomatoes are South American along with potatoes sorry everybody no uh no potatoes no crisps no chips uh uh even um uh pasta is not the same as the uh as we have it today so um Pastor is actually more like egg noodles
Com from the far e soup from China and things like that so yeah afraid not no tomatoes and if you haven’t got tomato you haven’t got tomato sauce so you don’t have pizza okay so the the the new pompe pizza maybe more of a flatbread than a pizza more likely a flat bread
With something else is it yeah it is if if it’s anything it might be a pizza Blanco a soldier has issued 66 pound of wheat grain right per month one of his tasks uh within the conium that tent party of eight soldiers is to grind up
The grain to make flour and from flour you can make bread or a thing called pulse think of it more like a porridge or a pottage something like that
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Actually cool to hear about how different their lifestyles were to what I imagined
I recommend watching the whole video not just the clips, well worth the time.
"Even pasta"
Can't imagine a Julius Caesar eating Spaghetti using a fork or legionnaires getting angry at Gallic cavalry cutting the spaghetti.
So more like pizza bianco is the og instead of "no pizza".
Potatos are from South America. Tomatos are from, Mexico
Plus they had cheese and dried meat with salt l think
The guy is an idiot. I keep hearing something new and stupid all the time. At this point, europeans were breathairians, lived off air. Wtf did europeans eat as a staple food? Grass? No tomatoes no pasta, no cheese, no brocolli, fuck that its name sounds italian, that shit from indonesia via roman trade with indus. You know turnips? Ye that stuff is from the artic, didn't exist back then. Basically, bread from saw dust, water, and air, was the roman diet. Idiots who believe that shit. I bet they also believe people eat 5 spiders a year in their sleep, tomatoes are fruits, potatoes used to be the size of table top marble(it's a wonder one could fill the caloric need of millions with such pebbles). God have mercy.
Times have changed so much its wild. Like salt as a payment.
I'd imagine that if the Romans had pizza, they would have used garum in lieu of tomato sauce.
Pizza was possible because Spanish conquerers. The tomato and potato were brought by them and also the first tomatoes were planted by the Spanish in Italy. Half Italy once belonged to the Soanish empire.
Fun fact, Gauls and more northern “barbarians” typically were taller than the Italian Romans due to the fact that they actually ate a lot of meat (comparatively) to the Romans who had a far less diverse diet of mostly grain.
This certain pasta channel: "italian food is about tradition, dont ruin the recipes!"
Meanwhile most of the toppings from pizza only appeared post-columbian exchange. Even pepperoni toppings only being added in 20th century.
They actually did have pizza but it was more like focaccia.
the playwright Aristophanes, in the 5th century BC, describes a pasta format similar to ravioli. At the time of the Roman Empire, on the other hand, many authors mention 'lagane' in their works, made with water and durum wheat flour, cut into strips and stuffed with vegetables: the ancestors of modern lasagne. They are mentioned, for example, by the poet Horace in the 1st century BC and the gastronome and writer Apicius, to whom the Roman cookbook 'De Re Coquinaria' (1st century AD) is attributed. Instead, pasta in the anhydrous format was introduced with the coming of the Arabs
From what I've heard, they technically did have pizza.
The one we know today was a poor man's pizza that was trending around the time of WW1. The idea was taken from Italy and became swiftly widespread.
But they had other variants without meat or tomato sauce. I remember hearing that a 15th or 16th century pope had a favorite pizza recipe, which was basically some butter with a bit of yeast/wheat.
Yes… ironically, a renaissance pope's favorite pizza recipe called for an unholy amount of butter.
Anyway, at this time, it seems pizzas may have been more a style of bread than the "pie" we think of.
So the "pizza blanco" flatbread checks out here.
God if I had to eat like that everyday I wouldn't be afraid to die either😂
No coffee or chocolate either.
i'd like 1 order of True Roman bread
Very little beef until near the end of the unified Roman Empire.
Lots of lentils, lots of fish and sea food when immediately available, like a garrison colony along a river or coast. Lots of pork, salted and prepared in a number of different ways. Lots of olive oil, and simple sauces made from oil and garum (a fish sauce) or a similar sauce if they could afford it.