What Did the Roman Army Eat? Surviving on a Legionnaire's Diet
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 มิ.ย. 2024
- The Roman army was spread across the entire globe, fighting huge campaigns that would require an enormous amount of supplies. One of the most important supplies would be the surplus of food, which would need to be made to last a long time to feed soldiers fighting for days on end.
Join Dan as he samples the staples of a fighting Roman centurion's diet.
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#historyhit #foodreview #foodhistory #romanfood
00:00 Introduction
00:36 History of the Roman Army
02:03 Hardtack Biscuits
03:13 Posca (Wine)
05:25 Venison & Wild Boar
06:14 Vegetables
07:14 Salt Pork
07:53 Cheese
09:22 Roman Army Food
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If there’s hardtack involved, we should call Max Miller for a collab.
Was ok
*[clack clack]*
LOL!! Yeah, I would like that too!
Max is the hard tack king!
For the Posca too !
"What's the good news about this stuff?" "It'll last forever!" "Okay, so what's the bad news?" "It'll last forever ..."
BTW, back in World War II didn't the U.S. Army issue its troops blocks of nearly inedible Hershey's chocolate? A G.I. palmed his off on my mom, then a teenager, when his unit passed through her home town of Baliuag on the way to fight the Japs in Manila. She managed to get a lot of delicious chocolate shakes out of that block, and to her dying day never forgot that G.I.'s kindness ...
Vinegar is a good source of vitamin C, so if you’re uncertain of whether or not you’ll find a local supply of fruits and vegetables to forage or trade, at least you know you won’t get scurvy.
Bruh, Vinegar has NO Vitamin C. You peddle lies and misinformation.
vinegar is not good source of vitamin C unless it's freshly produced. in 17th century, they prescribed vinegar and pickles to cure scurvy. we both know it wasn't the vinegar that did the job here.
You're not supposed to eat the hardtack directly like a cookie. People crushed the hardtack into crumbs and then stirred it into a soup or stew to thicken it, similar to adding cornstarch or a roux.
Tyey just dipped it in water, wine, a soup, or whatever was available.
You'd think he would know that. Makes his opinions to be taken with a grain of hardtack ;)
He said that you have to dip it in something like a stew to eat it.
Sometimes. when you're walking on the road there's no stew. You eat it as you have it. No soldier are you?
Sailors on later centuries would turn their ships biscuits into a porridge and then eat it at night so they wouldn’t have to see the bugs in it.
There’s also accounts from the peninsula war of solders eating the salted pork before it was fully cooked.
That bit about salt really being the base of salary is really interesting
Didn't they tell you that in your school?
As I understand it, that’s a myth. The soldiers were paid in money a few times a year. All the Roman forts I’ve ever seen have strong-rooms built into them, which is where the soldiers would collect their pay from. The salt was a part of their monthly ration, and because salt was very valuable, soldiers often traded it or sold it instead of using it, which effectively gave them a more regular income than their less regular paydays.
sometimes soldiers were paid in salt. they traded it for other goods
@@christopherellis2663 No and very few colleges teach it either. Next question.
The value of my salary is still a handful of salt.
As the great Obelix would say " these Romans are crazy" 😊
But he might agree on the wild boar dish :)
@@lucagriglio8253 Absolutely 👍😁
Well...yet another of my fellow men thinking about the Roman Empire.
It seems to me that most historians misunderstand hardtack. What he gets right here is that hardtack was made to survive a long time without spoilage. That is why it is hard. All the moisture has been baked out of it, so that it cannot spoil. I don't know if anyone has ever figured out how long it could last.
What Dan and others get wrong, is that there was that soldiers and sailors really didn't try to eat it dry, and weren't searching around for something to dip it in, anymore than people today are trying to find something to dip their dry pasta into. They simply rehydrated the hardtack, so to speak, by soaking it in something wet, such as stew or yes, wine. Wine because it was common enough to be served wine (and beer in some other places) as a substitute for water, which could often cause dysentery unless boiled. They would expect to do this in the same way we expect to cook potatoes, or flour.
Once soaked in something for long enough, hardtack is not bad at all. It is bread, after all. It is only hard for storage, and never meant to be eaten hard like we eat biscuits today.
Correct
I think some museum in Sweden has a round of Hardtack under a glass case.
He literally in the video talks about how they would try to dip the tacks into the wine, then DIPS HIS OWN TACK INTO THE WINE! But I guess you sure showed your knowledge??? I guess?
@@bombkita They didn't dip; they soaked. That is my point. They way Dan describes this is as if they confronted this food in the way we eat biscuits today. That was not case, except in extreme situations.
It would be like some historian talking about people today, trying to find something they can dip their dried pasta in to make it palatable. It is absurd. None of us are eating pasta dry, we wouldn't try more than once. We just know that pasta gets boiled (or exposed to heat and liquid of some sort) before it is eaten.
This was the same for all the consumers of hardtack through the ages. Only rarely would you even try to eat it without soaking. And soaking in wine gets a lot of press, but you'd more often see it soaked into cooked stew or soup.
Lobscouse was a common dish for sailors, of meat, vegetables, and hardtack.
I'm saying that Dan misunderstands how hardtack was approached, and portrays it as people gnawing on the corner of a rock. Not accurate.
@@ThatGuyNamedRick Hmmm. Is that a Swedish thing?
So many people thinking about the Roman Empire every day!
Dan is the man.
Posca tastes great if you make it right, I don't know how he didn't like it . Chuck the right herbs in it and get the mix right and it's good. The key is to use wine that's gone sour rather than just straight vinegar. Used to make with that left over bit of wine that sat in the fridge too long.
leftover wine? Never heard of it. 😅 🍷.
Don't know about making it taste good but considering how far from home the soldiers likely were it would help prevent issues from drinking the local water.
Liar.
@@thejman8734 Who's lying?
It is just watered down cheap wine with honey. It is literally the ingredients.
The "Vinegar" is the poor wine that turned into Vinegar aka. sour non-alcoholic (or very low alcoholic) wine. Not the cooking vinegar.
It's likely that the reason your posca was so bad (other than you aren't used to it) is that you don't have anything like what they would have recognized as "vinegar". Unless you used a good wine vinegar; and even then it would be too processed.
would of been old wine which had gone a little sharp rather than straight up acetic acid mixed with water
Oh hell yes, im about to devour a bowl of mac and cheese while I watch this. Love seeing Dan pop up in my feed.
Cool! It's a soggy black berry waffle with bacon for me! 😂
Dan: "What have the Romans every done for us?"
Someone: "The cheese?"
Dan: "oh, well yeah the cheese, that goes without saying!"
kevinmcqueenie "Blessed are the cheesemakers......"
"its safe to go out at night now"
well purveyors of dairy products in general @@chestermosburger3113
Pretty ingenious those Romans.
You don’t have a well run empire for five hundred years without some attention to detail.
Thanks for illuminating some of their methods.
(1200 years).
over 2000 years
Love the bit about cheese!
Looking good in that armor sir. 😉
So Dan, you’re saying the soldiers didn’t eat Little Caesar’s Pizza?
I made some hard tack a few years ago. Filled you up, but that's about all you can say for it, apart from the calories. You certainly wouldn't want to try to bite it without softening it up first. Question? Might they have crushed the biscuit up and fried it with the bacon, as Napoleonic sailors, and American Civil War soldiers sometimes did? Possible. It's also interesting that the basic military ration of "biscuit, salt meat, and alcohol" stayed more or less the same from the 1st cent BCE to the 19th cent CE. 2000 years of hardtack......shudder.
They wouldn't eat them straight up, they would crush the hardtack into crumbs and stir it into soups and stews to thicken them, a bit like adding roux.
@@Sorcerers_ApprenticeI wonder how often they were forced to not soften it up in stews, but just in their drink rations?
@@Sorcerers_Apprentice that's what Napoleonic navies did, though they did also eat ships bicuits as is after tapping them to dislodge the weevils!
It's not quite hardtack, but a lot of modern military field rations still have something like a fortified cracker in them. It's a tried and true formula for making carbohydrates that stay edible for a long time. I think it honestly wouldn't have been too difficult to introduce a variety of dried herbs, salts, spices, and the like to a hardtack recipe to improve their flavor without significantly compromising the shelf life.
Jesus was given "οινον μετα χολης μεμιγμενον" (wine with gall mixed) but he refused to drink it.
This was not "sour wine" in any sense that is being proposed here.
It was a mixture of mandrake, which is a powerful drug (tropane) and vinegar/wine, which is needed to help the body absorb the drug.
Thank you. The lapses of the learned are not to be let past
My son and I visited Butser Ancient Farm in 2001. At that time, they'd just barely started work on the Roman villa. Our guide told us that, as those involved discussed the building of the hypocaust, they debated whether to use recreated Roman box tiles or modern ones. They decided to use modern ones, as there was only a quarter-inch size difference between the two, with a considerable cost savings to boot.
A wonderful introducing...thank you history Hit channel for sharing
Interesting. Thank you kindly for sharing it!
I enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
Very interesting episode, would be perfect collab video with @TastingHistory Channel :D
I would have expected a channel with "History" in the name to have pictures that I couldn't have denied the authenticity of when I was still in middle school.
The richest Romans ate boar that ate pretty much only chestnuts, apparently they made the bacon taste amazing.
Most nuts have a pretty decent amount of good fats in them, prolly why it made 'em taste so good.
Similar to jamon iberico, which does indeed taste anazing 🤤
Pata Negra
There is a special type of ham that's made in Spain, it comes from a certain type of pig, and it lives on acorns. It's supposed to be very special, taste amazing, and it's ridiculously expensive.
@@edg09 It's called jamon Iberico and yes, it's expensive (no wonder why).
Finally a history show did the research and shows us a movie accurate typical Roman at ease taking his respite. Though the lack of gauntlets really disappointed me as an expert of the subject.
Great video. I'm surprised you didn't discuss or sample Garum
It makes sense since he took a historical reference from a soldier's diet. I would be surprised if they had widespread access to garum in the army due to the nature of its preparation.
One that surprised me wasn't on the list was legumes. It was the protein staple together with cheese when meat wasn't available and they are the most practical thing to carry around when dried.
Erm I get the feeling he wouldn't like it!
Great video
It should be “legionary’s” in the title. Great video!
Stop eating, centurion! Still many countries to conquer!!! Ave Roma!!!
Great channel 💯👍 Just liked and subscribed 👍
Hey Dan. Love your work 👍
This is great
sounds like you guys forgot to check the mic before filming. Sound is very low.
Interesting stuff
Last time I savoured British military ration packs in the early 1990s they were still including hard tack biscuits !
I had three basics for packing food for a road trip: a big chunk of pepperoni, a chunk of cheese, and a bag of pita. All easily eaten with one hand.
Thanks ❣️🤣🤣🤣...
Dan's encounter with hardtack reminds me a little of Drachinifel's video in which he tries to recreate Royal Navy rations c. 18th-19th Century. His expression when he comes to grips with ship's biscuit is priceless.
I still miss you my old friend. It still sad to hear that you were destroyed by the heirs of arminius but you will never be forgotten
That ‘Salary’ fact has blown my mind
Nice hat Dan!!!
''Blessed are the cheesemakers''
I’m so glad I’m not the first to that joke 😂
And add "Cheese" to the list of things the Romans did for us.
Odd, I've been thinking a lot about Roman stuff lately.
Dan Snow knows everything, including how to eat hard tack.
Max Miller should do a History Hit where he introduces Dan to Garum which is a very smelly kind of gross ( decaying fish anyone) fish sauce.
Is the secret name of this series "Make Dan Snow Hurt"? I'm here for it, I just want to know.
Dan Snow, a man who will risk his stomach to give us a great video.
Hardtack was usually used as an ingredient or rehydrated. Did you ever try cooking the Spam from your WWII food video after the suggestions?
Dan makes a very convincing Centurion Guard!
I remember suffering with hard tack in the Canadian Army years ago. How like the Romans we are
Beaver is not bad by any means. The tail fat is actually delicious spread on a slice of rye bread.
Dan in armor is awesome 😂
6:52 I don’t need parsnips for that ❤
🤭
Hardtack was eaten on Royal Navy sailing ships. The ration included rehydrated beef, pork, peas, rum mixed with water, supplemented with fresh fruit and veg when they could get it.
While hardtack was issued right up until World War I, the most recent and descriptive accounts of the food come from the American Civil War. Soldiers often referred to the biscuits as “worm castles” because all too often they would become home to maggots and weevils.
You missed out on garum! A fermented fish sauce.
All seem like great lads.
Please tell us that after Mr Rahm’s move to LIV that the taco colab is going to happen? 🙏
I enjoyed the two tv shows Battlefield Britain and Twentieth Century Battlefields that were Hosted by Dan Snow and his father.
The idea that the Roman army could achieve victory by simply being well-supplied is fascinating. Another example of the adage that amateurs speak of tactics while professionals speak of logistics
2:10 - I blame Max Miller for the memetic "tap tap" this evoked.
And no, you're supposed to process that biscuit into your stew, or soak it first
The only thing worse than the hardtack was Dan Snows lorica Musculata.
Did your neck hurt after laying like that? It didn't look like the most comfy way to eat or drink either lol.
We have the Romans to thank for stuff like ham, and deli sausage. They discovered and were the first to use sodium nitrate for curing. And smoking, added flavour, that made meats shelf stable. ( meaning no requirement for refrigeration )
There are no essential carbohydrates. Jerky and pemmican are the preferred option. Vinegar is an ameliorant to the ravages of carbs
Veni! Vidi! Vici! Roma invicta!
Ave
6:59 The cook book ic called "De Re Culquinare", it means "About Cooking" (or something like it, ancient latin is a mess), the books autor is Appicius.
Dan loves larping lol. Love it.
I love the fact that the description of wild boar and venison was interrupted by an advert for Ocado 🙂
I wonder if the biscuit dipping was what we adopted from the Romans in the form of rich tea/digestives and dipping them into tea like some still do ?
Holy damn i like so much his leasons
All the tablets at Vindolandia - none complain of the food.
Were they also equipped with a ration of Wolf Nipple Chips?
I would assume you would put the hardtack into water or soup to soften it up first. Let it boil for a bit.
Tasting history with max miller made those hard tacks
I remember watching Dan and his father in the Battlefield series about a decade ago. Now he has salt in his hair, how time flies.
Hard tack was also known as ships bread too.
hard tack were mixed with broth probably and yeah hot drinks.
Is that GO WEST by Pet Shop Boys that I keep hearing in the background?!!
The wild garlic that's dotted around the uk was planted by the Romans.. the used it a lot in their foods.
As an American, when we hear hardtack we think Civil War. There was some hardtack from the Mexican War of 1846 to 1848 that was reused in 1861.
The irony
Im watching this whilst eating some 5 year old hard-tack with corned-beef in a stock soup
I never understood what their problem was with barley. I know one of the punishments for soldiers for various infractions was to have your normal rations taken away and replaced with barley for a period of time.
I tried posca before and didn't find it bad at all. That vinegar really makes your mouth salivate, so it's pretty refreshing if you're really thirsty, like sour candy.
If i recall correctly consumption of barley was culturally considered degrading to soldiers as it was a grain usually fed to livestock and slaves according to Pliny. So best guess is that it was an issue of class status rather then inferiority of the food itself. Although the protein content of barley was pretty low so probably the soldiery developed a distinct disdain for it given their need to maintain muscle mass for the fight.
You forgot the most famous roman condiment of all... garum.
Nevermind the vinegar in the wine, just put some honey in there. The cheese sounds great and the meat sounds delicious
Otters noses … badgers spleen … get em while they’re ‘ot!
And the aqueducts…
I drink a tbsp of apple cider vinegar with water everyday and after a few weeks of doing this you grow accustomed to it and it doesn’t taste bad anymore 🤷♂️
I am a Great War living historian and have eaten Great War hardtack, soaked in tea to soften. How similar would they have been?
Glad to see (and hear) Dan went to the dentist ;)
Posca is similar to switchel
I miss heard 'shift' 😮
Legionary, not Legionnaire when it comes to Roman soldiers. Plural being Legionaries.
In Procopius' Vandal War, it is remarked that John the Cappadocian didn't have the hardtack properly baked twice so he could keep the savings for his own pocket. He simply had the bread baked twice using the heating pits under the baths in Constantinople instead of at proper bakeries. The result is that it wasn't properly baked twice and the hardtack of Belisarius' Fleet headed toward North Africa to attack the Vandals was full of worms and mold. One of the list of many corrupt practices of that no-good Johnny C.
Dan really doesn't look comfortable on that sofa! Haha
I love the video. Theres one thing thats missing, constant foraging of small leaf herbs. Fair it may not be a substantial source of carbs, fat or protein but most people of that time were often chewing on or eating grass or other wild edibles. Other than period sources (do look up the original materia medica by Dioscorides, a fantastic roman herbalist and surgeon and a wonderous book and easily another video worth of material :) I also know as a trained herbalist thats lived in the bush for long periods, anybody thats familiar with most the flora and fauna of a region (like most people of that time) are instinctually eating and nibbling wild edibles. They would have been grabbing herbs and edibles along every march and foraging party as part of general life.
how much grass could be eaten per day ? 50 grams, 100 grams ?
what was the fermented anchovy paste called ? It was used as a spread/dip or seasoning to food served in Rome .It was very popular You missed this !
Garum
I met an Italian history student who had the recipe a long time ago . He made it and said it was nice @@lornadonohoe7806
Huh. I never knew about hard tack, i thought soldiers got allowances of grain and each contubernium had basically millstones to grain it. I'll really have to look into this (for context - I'm a Latin teacher, i really should know these things)
That is correct however on forced marches or when grain was going to be scarce the twice baked bread was carried. It would have been a good ingredient in a stew as a thickener even when you had grain to make fresh bread.
Supposedly, the hard tack used during the Spanish-American war was left over from the U.S. Civil War.
This talk about parsnips, which I hate, reminds me of Baldrick from Blackadder and his turnips. 😁