Marcus Gavius Apicius was a Roman gourmet and lover of luxury, who lived sometime in the 1st century AD. He spent vast sums to satisfy his craving for exotic foods and The Roman cookbook Apicius is often attributed to him.
The name "Apicius" had long been associated with an excessively refined love of food, from the habits of an early bearer of the name. The first Apicius was a legendary gourmet of about 100 BC.
Athenaeus, living during the time when much about Apicius was still current, was a Greek rhetorician. He said that Marcus Gavius Apicius of the time of Tiberius (AD14-37) chose to live at Minturnae, Campania because the prawns grew bigger there than anywhere else. Then he heard about the size and sweetness of the prawns taken near the Libyan coast. Apicius commandeered a boat and crew, but when he arrived, disappointed by the prawns he was offered by the local fishermen who came alongside in their boats, and comparing them to the excellent crawfish he was accustomed to at his villa, he ordered his boat to turn around and make straight for home.
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| The Apicius manuscript (ca. 900 AD) of the monastery of Fulda in Germany. By Bonho1962 |
The name "Apicius" had long been associated with an excessively refined love of food, from the habits of an early bearer of the name. The first Apicius was a legendary gourmet of about 100 BC.
Athenaeus, living during the time when much about Apicius was still current, was a Greek rhetorician. He said that Marcus Gavius Apicius of the time of Tiberius (AD14-37) chose to live at Minturnae, Campania because the prawns grew bigger there than anywhere else. Then he heard about the size and sweetness of the prawns taken near the Libyan coast. Apicius commandeered a boat and crew, but when he arrived, disappointed by the prawns he was offered by the local fishermen who came alongside in their boats, and comparing them to the excellent crawfish he was accustomed to at his villa, he ordered his boat to turn around and make straight for home.
His recipes included numerous spices such as pepper intended to preserve food, aid the digestion, and improve the flavor of the dull Roman fare. "Sprinkle with pepper and serve" is the last step in a recipe for diced pork and apples from one cookbook. He even recommended the use of pepper in sweet desserts.
According to Pliny, Apicius devised a method of producing pork liver based on existing methods of producing goose liver (foie gras). He fed his pigs with dried figs and slaughtered them with an overdose of mulsum (honeyed wine).
The first known recipe for deep-fried chicken was called "Pullum Frontonianum" and can be found in the Apicius cookbook.
A recipe from the Apicius cookbook details a burger-like dish called ‘Isicia Omentata'. It was made with minced meat, pepper, wine, pine nuts and a rich fish-based sauce called garum.
According to Pliny, Apicius devised a method of producing pork liver based on existing methods of producing goose liver (foie gras). He fed his pigs with dried figs and slaughtered them with an overdose of mulsum (honeyed wine).
The first known recipe for deep-fried chicken was called "Pullum Frontonianum" and can be found in the Apicius cookbook.
A recipe from the Apicius cookbook details a burger-like dish called ‘Isicia Omentata'. It was made with minced meat, pepper, wine, pine nuts and a rich fish-based sauce called garum.
Apicius' colossal banquets drove him to bankruptcy. Calculating how little money he had left, he decided to poison himself rather than turning to a more modest way of living.
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