As part of our continued exploration into Roman culture and life, Ben Meyers and I decided that cooking a Roman style dish would be an excellent way to further understand the lives of the Romans. We found an article from the University of Chicago that detailed a variety of Roman recipes mostly from Apicius first in their original Latin and then also adjusted for the modern age. We decided on a Recipe for a Roman Nut Tart from Apiciuc,136 due to the fact that we thought it might be difficult to find a wild boar or ostrich.

We were succesful in finding the ingredients for our dish with the exception of the full fat sheep’s milk which we substituted with full fat cow’s milk.

Following the recipe we started by roasting a large quantity of nuts and then combining with a mixture of desert wine and honey

We then allowed this mixture to cool and added the eggs, milk, salt and pepper.

This combination was put into a glass oven dish and put in an water bath in the oven at 400 degrees for 24 minutes.

We then removed it from the oven and allowed it to cool before chilling it in the fridge.

After letting the tart sit in the refrigerator overnight, we decided to try our creation. The first issue we encountered was how to remove the tart from the oven dish. While we thoroughly oiled the dish before baking, the tart would not simply fall out as the recipe had claimed. Thus, we attempted to loosen the tart around the edges to aid. This too failed. Finally, we cut out a section of the tart and removed it with two forks; however, it immediately crumbled and lost its shape. We then scooped out the section that had crumbled and it was finally time to taste it. As you can see in some of the pictures, the majority of the tart is comprised of the nut mixture. Our first reaction when tasting the dish was the overwhelming amount of nuts. The consistency reminded us of chewing on a handful of assorted nuts from a trail mix; however, they were moist and crushed nuts. The nut part of the dish was actually quite good and tasted like roasted nuts you might find on a street corner. The next notable aspect of this dish was the fact that the eggs and milk batter that we added to the nut mixture completely settled and separated on the bottom of the dish. This led to the bottom portion of the nut tart tasting like undercooked eggs (would have been the top if it had come out of the tin correctly. We believe that the original intention was for the milk and eggs batter to mix more with the nut mixture. 

While the final product was not one that we would recommend, we believe that a true Roman chef could have prepared this dish in an entirely different way that may have led to a more edible tart. For any future chef who might attempt to make this dish we would recommend trying to find sheep’s milk along with halving the recipe or using a much larger baking tin.

After watching a clip from the gladiatorial reenactment of the Battle of Carthage in class, I decided it was time to finally watch “Gladiator,” an Academy Award winning film featuring Russel Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix. “Gladiator” tells the story of Maximus a former Roman general who is forced into slavery and eventually the gladiatorial arena due to the hostile takeover of a new emperor. 

“Gladiator” opens with Maximus winning an important battle against the Gauls under the command of the emperor Marcus Aurelius. Aurelius is rapidly approaching death and decides that instead of his son Commodus, who he believes to be unworthy, he will appoint Maximus to succeed him. Commodus, hearing this, kills his father and demands fealty from Maximus. When Maximus refuses, Commidus tries to kill Maximus and successfully kills and crucifies his wife and young son. Maximus, injured by the attempt on his life, is captured by slavers and then sold to a gladiatorial training school run by Proximo, a former Roman gladiator. Maximus is made to fight in a variety of low level gladiatorial fights and wins gaining notoriety. Commodus, now emperor, after struggling with the daily life of leading Rome and dealing with the senate decides to organize a series of games. Maximus due to his notoriety is brought to Rome to fight in these games. Maximus is able to win multiple fights that are massively stacked against him and eventually announces himself with his real name and promises to get revenge. Commodus is aghast but the crowd has fallen in love with Maximus and he cannot kill him. Maximus begins to plan a rebellion with the help of Commodus’s sister Lucilla and a senator. The plan is found out by Commodus and he quickly kills the allies of Maximus. Then, even after destroying the conspiracy, in order to prove himself to the people, Commodus challenges Maximus to a gladiatorial fight but not before stabbing him. Even with this injury Maximus defeats and kills Commodus, and Commodus’s guards are unwilling to save him. Maximus then collapses from his injuries and he’s honored with a proper burial.

Watching this movie in the context of our class was interesting because it is set after the downfall of the republic. Even though it is not historically accurate in any way, it shows the continuation of the resolve of the Roman people and their attachment to values similar to those of the Republican period. This is demonstrated by the fact that even as emperor, Commodus feels it necessary to repeatedly prove his auctoritas to both the people and the senate. This necessity for honor even by the Emperor demonstrates that these Roman values and accountability to the people still exists.