Roman Food

 

Italian food today is mostly pasta, tomatoes and red peppers but if you were in Ancient Rome you wouldn't have heard of any of these. The staple (main) foods were bread, olives, olive oil  and  cheese. Poor people received free bread from the state. Large amounts of grain had to be imported largely from Egypt. There was no tea or coffee. You drank wine or water. Wine was almost always watered down. It was considered bad manners to drink wine undiluted. The amount of fish or meat you ate depended on what you could afford. Pork and mutton were popular meats, though more exotic and exquisite dishes as flamingos were served at banquets. The members of wealthy families had a kitchen and slaves to do all their cooking. If your family was poor, you ate simple foods like bread and cheese or bought hot food in the evening from a stall in the street. You got your water from public fountains.

 

Roman Clothing

The most important article of clothing for Ancient Roman was the toga. However, you could only wear a Toga if you were a citizen. Depending on your social status your Toga had various frills. If you were a male child of a citizen you would were a Toga with a purple stripe. At 16 you would get a pure white Toga. Members of the senate had a Toga with a purple stripe. The emperor's robe was purple. A poor man wears a tunic and a loincloth. In public, people wore boots but in private they wore sandals.