Baking, Banquets, and Boiling Pots: Food in Pompeii
Table of Contents
Introduction
The food in Pompeii tells the story of a city rich in flavor, habit, and social ritual. Preserved by the ash of Mount Vesuvius, Pompeii offers one of the most detailed records of ancient Roman cuisine ever discovered.
From bakeries and street food stalls to elegant dinner parties, food permeated every level of society. The kitchens, tools, and even the remnants of meals give us rare insight into what people ate, how they prepared it, and what it meant to gather around a table in the first century.
Kitchens and Cooking Equipment
Pompeian kitchens were often small, practical spaces tucked into corners of the house. They featured simple hearths made of brick or stone, often with a bronze tripod, grill, or clay oven for cooking. There were no chimneys—smoke escaped through windows or vents.
Cooking pots, ladles, and pans made of bronze or ceramic were common, and many homes had amphorae for storing wine, oil, or sauces. In wealthier homes, some kitchens were surprisingly modern, with built-in water basins and adjacent storage areas. The food in Pompeii was prepared with ingenuity, even in cramped conditions.
The Bakeries of Pompeii
Bread was a staple, and Pompeii had no shortage of it. Archaeologists have uncovered around 20 bakeries, complete with stone mills powered by donkeys or slaves. The flour was ground onsite, mixed with water, shaped, and baked in large dome ovens that could cook dozens of loaves at once.
One bakery had 81 loaves in its oven at the moment of the eruption. Pompeian bread was circular and pre-scored into segments—almost like a modern pull-apart loaf.
Some loaves even bear stamps with the name of the baker or bakery, revealing the commercial scale of the operation. The food in Pompeii wasn’t just homemade—it was mass-produced, distributed, and even sold in the street.
Everyday Diet and Found Food
Thanks to carbonized remains and wall paintings, we know a lot about what Pompeians ate. Their diet included fruits like grapes, figs, apples, and pears, vegetables, nuts, eggs, and a variety of meat and seafood. Fish sauces (such as garum) were a common condiment, and olive oil was a dietary essential.
Some foods were luxury items, while others were basic staples. Archaeological finds have preserved chickpeas, lentils, onions, and even pine nuts, indicating a varied and nutritious daily menu. The food in Pompeii reflects both local agricultural abundance and the reach of Roman trade networks.
Dining Habits and Triclinia
In elite homes, meals were as much about display as nourishment. The dining room, or triclinium, featured three couches around a low table. Guests reclined while servants brought courses, poured wine, and cleaned up between servings. Wall paintings often decorated these rooms with mythological or festive imagery.
Drinking wine was an art, with rules about dilution, mixing, and conversation. Inscriptions on walls included jokes, menu items, or toasts—evidence of both refinement and humor. The food in Pompeii was inseparable from the rituals of Roman sociability, where the act of eating became a social performance.
Taverns, Thermopolia, and Public Eating
For the less wealthy, home cooking was limited—many didn’t have kitchens. Instead, people ate at thermopolia, Pompeii’s version of fast food shops. These small establishments had a masonry counter fitted with large jars (dolia) to hold stews, legumes, or wine.
One of the best-preserved is the thermopolium of Asellina, with painted signs, serving vessels, and even upstairs sleeping quarters for the workers.
These venues served not just food but also community, offering a space to socialize, eat quickly, and return to work. The food in Pompeii wasn’t confined to the home—it was public, accessible, and part of street life.
Conclusion
The food in Pompeii reveals a city as flavorful in its cuisine as it was in its culture. From the smoky kitchens of private homes to the heat of public ovens, from delicate fruits to rich sauces, the tastes of Pompeii spanned every class and every corner of the city.
What survives isn’t just the food itself, but a recipe for understanding Roman life: practical, indulgent, and always centered around the shared experience of a meal.