PATRICK FAAS

AROUND THE ROMAN TABLE (ROND DE TAFEL DER ROMEINEN)

Wild boar roasted with cumin, pepper and wine. Chicken poached in wine and served with a subtle sauce of herbs. Escalopes of veal with raisins. Porcini mushrooms with coriander. Ham and fig pie. Mice stuffed with a savoury forcemeat, roasted over an open flame and served with a sauce of honey and poppy seeds. (Yes, mice.)

These are just a few of the delicacies that Patrick Faas talks about and offers recipes for in his intriguing history of ancient Roman foodways. Around the Roman Table is a portrait of ancient Roman society as seen from the dining table, the kitchen, and the market stalls.

Beginning with the Roman conquest of faraway lands and the variety of foodstuffs the Romans pillaged to enrich their storehouses, and continuing on to the extravagance of Imperial Rome, Faas explores ancient Roman manners, dining arrangements, spices, seasonings and cooking techniques. He looks at the class structures of ancient Rome and the way they influenced Roman dining. He looks at the Roman penchant for complex sauces, elaborate display, and even food trickery, as when one cook satisfied his master with "anchovies" made from strips of vegetable when real anchovies weren't in season. Perhaps, most intriguingly, he shows how ancient Roman cuisine differs radically from its present-day counterpart. Influenced by the eastern spices and herbs that contemporary Romans would disdain, ancient Roman cookery and dining was a riotous celebration of tastes, colours, and textures. Complete with over one hundred and fifty recipes reconstructed for the modern cook, Around the Roman Table is a great work of culinary history that will intrigue cooks, chefs, and history buffs alike.

Published by Rainbow NL (original publisher Domus); Macmillan UK; St Martin’s Press USA; Toyo Shorin Japan

'Dip in anywhere, and you will find tasty morsels for consideration.' Literary Review

'Faas paints a vivid image of Roman food culture, with witty quotes from tens of sources… Loaded with interesting facts… Who finishes reading P.C.P. Faas’ excellent definitive work wonders why so little Roman food is eaten... It would be good if adventurous cooks started using ROUND THE ROMAN TABLE as a manual for a new culinary trend.' NRC Handelsblad

PATRICK .C.P FAAS (1960) is an internationally renowned food historian, lecturing and teaching all over the world. His column in the Volkskrant is hugely popular and has been published as a collection with a foreword by Midas Dekkers. Part of the Oxford Symposium on Food and History every year, his work in this field is without equal. He has appeared widely on European television and was sued by the SPCA for preparing, live on air, the ancient Roman delicacy, baked stuffed mice.