What’s in an Experiment? Roman Fish Sauce: an Experiment in Archaeology

This journal recently reported on an attempt to make fish sauce according to the recipe in Gargilius Martialis in order to asses their taste (Comis and Re 2009). This experiment seemed to fail on many levels and in fact the authors are quite honest in their conclusions that a great deal of further r...

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Main Author: Sally Grainger
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: EXARC 2012-01-01
Series:EXARC Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://exarc.net/ark:/88735/10020
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author Sally Grainger
author_facet Sally Grainger
author_sort Sally Grainger
collection DOAJ
description This journal recently reported on an attempt to make fish sauce according to the recipe in Gargilius Martialis in order to asses their taste (Comis and Re 2009). This experiment seemed to fail on many levels and in fact the authors are quite honest in their conclusions that a great deal of further research is needed on the nature of these sauces before we can begin to consider what they may have tasted like. By a strange coincidence, at the time when I read this article in the summer of 2009, I was engaged in the preliminary preparations for extensive experiments to manufacture fish sauces for my MA dissertation in Archaeology at Reading University. My background is one which is ideally suited to engage in this project: as a professional chef who took a degree in Ancient History and went on to become a food historian, I have published widely on Roman food, including a new edition and translation of Apicius (Grocock and Grainger 2006). In my previous research into Roman food, it was clear that it was not going to be possible to truly understand ancient cuisine without first trying to gain some comprehension of the nature of garum and liquamen, and that required first hand experiments.
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spelling doaj.art-e28f2247e0d845b18d791e6c7513bcab2024-02-26T15:06:23ZengEXARCEXARC Journal2212-89562012-01-012012/1ark:/88735/10020What’s in an Experiment? Roman Fish Sauce: an Experiment in ArchaeologySally GraingerThis journal recently reported on an attempt to make fish sauce according to the recipe in Gargilius Martialis in order to asses their taste (Comis and Re 2009). This experiment seemed to fail on many levels and in fact the authors are quite honest in their conclusions that a great deal of further research is needed on the nature of these sauces before we can begin to consider what they may have tasted like. By a strange coincidence, at the time when I read this article in the summer of 2009, I was engaged in the preliminary preparations for extensive experiments to manufacture fish sauces for my MA dissertation in Archaeology at Reading University. My background is one which is ideally suited to engage in this project: as a professional chef who took a degree in Ancient History and went on to become a food historian, I have published widely on Roman food, including a new edition and translation of Apicius (Grocock and Grainger 2006). In my previous research into Roman food, it was clear that it was not going to be possible to truly understand ancient cuisine without first trying to gain some comprehension of the nature of garum and liquamen, and that required first hand experiments.https://exarc.net/ark:/88735/10020cookeryexperimentfishfoodroman eraunited kingdom
spellingShingle Sally Grainger
What’s in an Experiment? Roman Fish Sauce: an Experiment in Archaeology
EXARC Journal
cookery
experiment
fish
food
roman era
united kingdom
title What’s in an Experiment? Roman Fish Sauce: an Experiment in Archaeology
title_full What’s in an Experiment? Roman Fish Sauce: an Experiment in Archaeology
title_fullStr What’s in an Experiment? Roman Fish Sauce: an Experiment in Archaeology
title_full_unstemmed What’s in an Experiment? Roman Fish Sauce: an Experiment in Archaeology
title_short What’s in an Experiment? Roman Fish Sauce: an Experiment in Archaeology
title_sort what s in an experiment roman fish sauce an experiment in archaeology
topic cookery
experiment
fish
food
roman era
united kingdom
url https://exarc.net/ark:/88735/10020
work_keys_str_mv AT sallygrainger whatsinanexperimentromanfishsauceanexperimentinarchaeology