Audaces Fortuna Iuvat! – Fortune favours the brave. In the kitchen, our host, Idit, is certainly that (I claim no knowledge of other departments).
For our G dinner, she picked the theme “Gladiator” – the slave-warrior-showmen of the Roman Empire’s Games. This meant researching how these men were fed back in antiquity, procuring unusual ingredients, and using previously unknown spices.
That was Idit’s challenge, as host and cook. My challenge, as documenter and spokesperson of this enterprise, is that I wasn’t there.
Nope. I had to miss this one, to look after my little nephew while my sister was having – how fitting – a Caesarian Section. But I have the faithful testimonies of my dear friends, and the photos – so I’ll do my best.
Fascinating insight as to what a Gladiator’s diet consisted of can be found in this excellent blog: REVERIES & RECIPES by Robert Lulo:
“…It’s what Roman gladiators ate to stay in fighting condition. And surprisingly, it was almost a completely vegetarian diet. No meat and potatoes for these guys. They ate mostly barley, beans and some pasta too, often flavoured with fish sauce, trying to put on enough weight to cushion those sword and spear wounds in the arena. That wasn’t enough to strengthen their bones so they drank a sort of “sports drink,” a mix of wood and bone ash to build up calcium. They also drank goats milk and water but no wine. This combination of food and drink made them fit and tough.”
Gladiators were SLAVES – so no succulent meat or fancy wine for them. These burly men got their protein and calories from grains and beans – cooked by the barrel-full. I hope their barracks were well-ventilated.
Now – there’s a limit to how much comfort we’ll sacrifice for authenticity, so rather than wood-and-bone-ash smoothies Idit did serve beer and wine (both common in the Roman Empire – just not for the Gladiators) and a Numidian chicken dish – probably enjoyed by their masters.
So here we go!
The first thing to greet Bernhard as he walked in was the heady, glutenous scent of wheat and beans which had been cooking all afternoon. The second was a lion.
So of course he went straight to the kitchen and poked around the various pots.
The first dish was a Soup of smokey beans, barley, and roasted tomatoes (which looks like it could be a delicious meal all unto itself), served with Turkish flatbread:
(I believe I spot some sneaky potatoes in there, which didn’t exist in Asia or Europe before Columbus, but hey, we’re not scientists)
Next came a Gladiator Grain bowl, which started its life as two separate pots, one of them smelly, but then got combined in a surprisingly tasty twist (those cute white blobs are goat cheese, not marshmallows!):
Then came the slightly-off-topic-but-very-welcome Numidian Chicken – Pullum Numidicum, with a very interesting date, nuts, honey and cumin sauce, and a side of string-beans a-la-Gladiator (Idit replaced Garum, the ancient Roman fish sauce with anchovy sauce):
Turns out gladiators did get pudding! (when they were good, killing their foes and finishing all their greens, presumably). So Idit made an Old Roman Apple Cake, served with Italian water and white wine:
I did get a takeaway box of some chicken, sauce and beans, and can say they were delicious. To trust my dears – so were the soup, grain bowl, and cake. I’m sure they were!
Now just imagine we were all wearing ‘authentic’ Roman helms and golden laurels – which Bernhard bought – and then unceremoniously forgot at home…
Until next time!
with love,
Arianna
