Have you ever wondered what bread was like 2000 years ago? We often assume that bread is bread, and it has always been the same. But this is where archaeologists, historians, and food anthropologists will tell you that even the bread we know has gone through stages of development as culture, technology, and techniques developed. In AD 79, a Roman baker put his loaf of bread into the oven. Then, a disaster struck: a volcanic eruption that destroyed the city of Pompeii. Nearly 2,000 years later, it was found petrified during excavations in Herculaneum. The British Museum asked Giorgio Locatelli to recreate the recipe. Enjoy this unusual cooking video as the baker recreates the loaf from the past.
If you are a regular reader, you probably noticed my affinity for culinary contexts of antiquity. Many pieces I publish often mention food in some way. I have to confess that ancient diets, food production, and meal customs have been an area of my interest for years, so much so that this was the area in which I wrote my dissertation.
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