Roman legion food

[slim]

Hello,

I looked at Necro_oners topic on recipes and it spured me to look for the kind of food roman soldiers ate. They had the most sophisticated war machine in the ancient world. With all those troops its a wonder they never starved. This survival can be put down to the food they ate whilst on campaign.

It may not have been luxurious but when logistics were an issue then the food was a life saver.

"Soldiers in the Roman Army subsisted on a diet made up of very plain foods. Soldiers were required to pay up to one third of their wages for their food. They ate mostly bread, perhaps porridge, cheese or beans with cheap wine to wash it down (Marks, Tingay 16)."

"Dupont says that a soldier's diet was even more extremely limited. She reports that Legionaries ate only bread and drank only water plus a little vinegar when the weather was hot. It was considered that "bread was the only food "fit for a soldier, hard food for hard men"(Dupont 125)."

When the revolution comes, the people will need food. It will no longer be supplied by the corporations so a diet of bread, biscuits, cheese, beans, porridge; and meat whenever possible to aquire.

This all seems to make sense but the real star of this topic is the addition of a little vinegar to stop the water go stale. I hear that brandy also does the same trick but is obviously not the recommended choice whilst fighting for freedom.

[Organic Revolution]

see they didnt eat meat :D

[RedAnarchist]

People can eat vegetables from the ground and fruit from the trees. We don't need to eat a 'roman' diet just beacuse the corporations wont be around to put a few chemicals together and call it food.

[Organic Revolution]

you can eat any diet, if you kow your body, and keep it healty. many legions died of famine.

[violencia.Proletariat]

i think this is the perfect time to start a gardening thread. like you said slim, people will need food during the revolution. thats why everyone of us should try and get community gardens started in our communities. that way we are prepared for the future. in a general strike, we can feed unemployed families that may become scabs. and its a good source to feed everyone before it starts getting revolutionary with the point of collecting all food in the community and rationing it.

[Organic Revolution]

you should start it up then.

[guerillablack]

Start one up in yor community and tell us how it goes.

[pastradamus]

I hate people dissing meat! Im a butcher and I can say that you really develope an appreciation for meat when you see how much care goes into it. FIRST-The Animal gets checked for BSE,foot and mouth and other illness after its been slaughtered.
Second- A guy removes the unedible(ones that are bad for you) organs and washes down the animal.
Third- The Animal gets washed before being cut up into large,easily transportable chunks and delivered to the butcher.
Finally- The butcher removes all meat from the bones and cuts and slices the meat and that what ends up on your table. Some meat also gets spiced and some salted.

[fernando]

We should use all vegetarians and PETA like people as sources of meat and experimentation subjects for medicins...see it as a way for them to sacrifice themselves for their ideals...then see how "idealistic" they remain :unsure:

But on a more serious note, Roman food always seemed to intrigue me for some reason, I know that they used to eat really...I mean really spicy food, my Latin book explained that this was because the Romans cooked with lead, their pans were made out of lead or something with their watersystems also, which meant they were more exposed to lead and the poisoning by the lead causes people to lose a sense of taste which meant the food had to be spicier to actually be tasted.

[infernomunky]

now that i didnt know about the lead pans causeing a loss of taste........

but yeah seeing as how romans didnt have modern refrigeration and chemical preservatives their other forms of preservation were amazingly advanced...
... they would use smoking , drying , salting soaking in brine, honey and waxes to cover fresh fruits, some natural caves were used to store food and cellars with snow and ice from mountains....they also would slaughter livestock eary when the animal was still cold from the night before using natural refrigeration........
...smart ass people.......and im sure they did have some meats.....makes good stews......
http://legvi.tripod.com/id43.html

[crimsonzephyr]

Originally posted by [email protected] 22, 2005 12:08 am
I hate people dissing meat! Im a butcher and I can say that you really develope an appreciation for meat when you see how much care goes into it. FIRST-The Animal gets checked for BSE,foot and mouth and other illness after its been slaughtered.
Second- A guy removes the unedible(ones that are bad for you) organs and washes down the animal.
Third- The Animal gets washed before being cut up into large,easily transportable chunks and delivered to the butcher.
Finally- The butcher removes all meat from the bones and cuts and slices the meat and that what ends up on your table. Some meat also gets spiced and some salted.
Do you work for a company that supplies McDonalds or some other fast food joint?? just because your meat is good doesn't mean it is everywhere else. Big corporations dont give a fuck about whose eating their "food" as long as they make money, even if it means breaking the FDAs rules.

anyway, ive heard of this diet called the Mediterranean diet and its supposed to be the healthiest thing for you. the majority of people where living longer than the rest of the world until world war one or two came into play, then all the agricultural stuff went downhill. I'm guessing the Romans had healthy food then.

http://www.greekproducts.com/b2b/index.html

[RedAnarchist]

Originally posted by hardee+December 02, 2007 12:56 am--> (hardee @ December 02, 2007 12:56 am)
[email protected] 22, 2005 12:08 am
I hate people dissing meat! Im a butcher and I can say that you really develope an appreciation for meat when you see how much care goes into it. FIRST-The Animal gets checked for BSE,foot and mouth and other illness after its been slaughtered.
Second- A guy removes the unedible(ones that are bad for you) organs and washes down the animal.
Third- The Animal gets washed before being cut up into large,easily transportable chunks and delivered to the butcher.
Finally- The butcher removes all meat from the bones and cuts and slices the meat and that what ends up on your table. Some meat also gets spiced and some salted.
Do you work for a company that supplies McDonalds??

anyway, ive heard of this diet called the Mediterranean diet and its supposed to be the healthiest thing for you. the majority of people where living longer than the rest of the world until world war one or two came into play, then all the agricultural stuff went downhill. I'm guessing the Romans had healthy food then.

http://www.greekproducts.com/b2b/index.html [/b]
You do realise you've resurrected a 2 year old thread, and that pastradamus hasn't posted since August?

[crimsonzephyr]

lol no i didnt notice

[which doctor]

lol @ the Human Rights Association

[anarchista feminista]

Originally posted by [email protected] 02, 2007 11:00 am
lol no i didnt notice
It's probably because there is less activity in DIY than other threads and you find yourself in old topics pretty quickly... Sigh I wish I could think of more to discuss in DIY

[Marsella]

Originally posted by anarchista feminista+December 03, 2007 08:01 pm--> (anarchista feminista @ December 03, 2007 08:01 pm)
[email protected] 02, 2007 11:00 am
lol no i didnt notice
It's probably because there is less activity in DIY than other threads and you find yourself in old topics pretty quickly... Sigh I wish I could think of more to discuss in DIY [/b]
The plus and minuses of potatoes maybe? :P

[anarchista feminista]

Originally posted by Martov+December 03, 2007 09:01 pm--> (Martov @ December 03, 2007 09:01 pm)
Originally posted by anarchista [email protected] 03, 2007 08:01 pm

[email protected] 02, 2007 11:00 am
lol no i didnt notice
It's probably because there is less activity in DIY than other threads and you find yourself in old topics pretty quickly... Sigh I wish I could think of more to discuss in DIY
The plus and minuses of potatoes maybe? :P [/b]
there are so many ways to cook them!
yet they are so high in carbs. if like me you don't exercise, it's easy to put on weight :lol:

[Comrade Rage]

I like the idea of this thread, because this is about a big question that isn't always asked.

The 'Roman' Diet seems good as it can be transported a long ways without going bad.

You won't be able to garden during the revolution. Even if the revolutionary forces are not moving quickly, your garden would probably be trampled or otherwise destroyed in the fighting.

[Mujer Libre]

a) That really depends on the exact details of revolution.
and

b) Not everyone will be fighting on the front line, assuming there are front lines, which I think is unlikely. People will still be growing stuff..

[Comrade Rage]

Originally posted by Mujer [email protected] 04, 2007 03:21 pm
a) That really depends on the exact details of revolution.
and

b) Not everyone will be fighting on the front line, assuming there are front lines, which I think is unlikely. People will still be growing stuff..
Oh I think that there will more or less be a front-line. I've never bought into this crap from the bourgeosie press about fronlines becoming outmoded.

And yes, some people WILL be growing food, but it will need to be transported over long distances, and it will have to have a high-calorie count so as to sustain the fighters during combat, and last over long periods when trains, roads and other means of transport will be blocked.

So it seems to me that a diet composed mainly of starches would be ideal.

[crimsonzephyr]

are potatoes even in Italy?? sorry if i sound dumb, i just think of them to grow more to the west

[Ander]

This thread actually brings up a really interesting idea - community gardens. I've never thought about this before, but it is actually something worth putting effort into.

Has anyone tried this before? We should make a separate thread about community gardens and get some members to try making these a reality.

[eXacto]

Yes , potatoes are eaten in Italy , though its origins lie in America , Europeans have brought it to Europe at the end of the Middle ages. It has took them a while before noticing they couldn't eat the plant (you die if you do that) but you have to eat the underground part. Nowadays , Europeans are masters in preparing patotoes. Specially the Belgians who are chefs in preparing chips/french fries.

[Comrade J]

Originally posted by [email protected] 05, 2007 03:19 pm
Nowadays , Europeans are masters in preparing patotoes. Specially the Belgians who are chefs in preparing chips/french fries.
It's not very difficult though, is it? :D

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

Do you work for a company that supplies McDonalds or some other fast food joint?? just because your meat is good doesn't mean it is everywhere else. Big corporations dont give a fuck about whose eating their "food" as long as they make money, even if it means breaking the FDAs rules.

But they do "give a fuck" when it comes to vegetables? Profit ceases to be their motivation when it comes to broccoli?

[Yazman]

That's a good point, CompaneroDeLibertad, and one I have never really seen made. I would be interested in seeing this, because I constantly see/hear vegans & vegetarians attack meat products from large corporations but cheer and defend vegetable products.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

The problem with the Roman Legionary's diet is that it provides energy but very little nutrition.


"Soldiers in the Roman Army subsisted on a diet made up of very plain foods. Soldiers were required to pay up to one third of their wages for their food. They ate mostly bread, perhaps porridge, cheese or beans with cheap wine to wash it down (Marks, Tingay 16)."

So that's the carbohydrates, protein and fat sorted but what about the rest? The wine has sugar but there are healthier ways of getting that. And where are the vitamins? No wonder Roman soldiers were so stunted.


"Dupont says that a soldier's diet was even more extremely limited. She reports that Legionaries ate only bread and drank only water plus a little vinegar when the weather was hot. It was considered that "bread was the only food "fit for a soldier, hard food for hard men"(Dupont 125)."

This is even worse. Bread alone does not a balanced diet make.

[followthemoney]

In theory, you can grind rice (carbs), beans (amino acids), and nuts (vitamins and minirals) into a flower and make bread that will meet most/all of your needs. Bacteria won't grow on honey, so you could cover your biscuts with bee puke for sugar and preservative. I'm not sure how long the honey would remain effective.

I've used bean flower and baked bread with it (you can actually buy bean flower from Indian grocers), but it tasted nasty. That experience got me thinking about "lembas" and hobbits and what it would take to cook a bread that would give your body everything it required and that would stay fresh for a long time.

[palotin]

There's no need to fetishize austerity. We should all probably make do with less than we currently use and have, but that doesn't translate into pursuing Spartanesque alimentary minimalism. Sustainability is the watchword. Puritanism tends to shift into worshiping some kind of hypermasculinity, like Roman legionnaires for example.

[guevara2093]

Couldn't you just make a bread with nuts and fruit from the gardens to distribute to people during the revolution? That way you cover the energy/nutritional needs in one blow.

[spartan]

Couldn't you just make a bread with nuts and fruit from the gardens to distribute to people during the revolution? That way you cover the energy/nutritional needs in one blow.

Yeah but that would taste like crap.

I am personally very minimalist when it comes to food and i once survived for a few weeks soley on nothing but buttered toast and orange juice every meal time.

Most of the time one of my meals involves plain bread.

I also love to exercise.

I dont know why i like things minimalist but hey my name is Spartan.

[Orange Revolution]

I am an ex legionnaire, though the french kind not the roman, i'm also a chef. As to discussion of roman soldiers diet I can tell you bread and vinegar ain't going to get you far on the march, but if that is all you are given, you and your mates will steal or 'forage' what you need on the way. And if you are hungry enough, you will eat anything, I have eaten all sorts of bugs and shit... I would say the Roman Legionnaires diet would be exactly the same as any modern army on the move (except the yanks, they can't move without a MacDomalds in tow), the basics supplemented by what you can liberate on the way. Puts me in mind of the NVA, the vietcong used to have a basic rice ration but would carry a tin can with charcoal in it and barbeque insects on the way.

If you want a truly healthy diet then eat a little of everything. Variety is the spice of life, not restriction. We all need a balance of different proteins carbs fats and vitamins etc and eating too much of one thing can be to the detriment of others. I would reccommend never having the same items twice a day.