[SunkenCiv]

Fateful Day -- A picture of a thermopolium in Pompeii, where garum was served as a fast food. [Rossella Lorenzi]

[SunkenCiv]

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	Gods Graves Glyphs	By coincidence, I'm going offline to continue reading a book about Herculaneum. :') I have a video somewhere, showing a researcher talking about this garum discovery; he remarks that the samples still have a mild fish smell to them. :') Nice that this research verifies the date of the eruption -- since it's the only surviving eyewitness account, and if memory serves, the *only* surviving account from antiquity of any volcanic eruption per se (the Periplus of Hanno merely records the eruption of Mount Cameroon, without saying what it was). To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
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[SampleMan]

Why are they using fish entrails to date something that was firmly recorded by the Romans at the time?

[rahbert]

Wonder if the counter help was any better then?

[null and void]

Prik num bah!

Excellent with kau phad gai!

[martin_fierro]

Used in copious quantities by the ancient Melaminians.

[coconutt2000]

If I were there I'd probably have made a "potty" joke...

[mountainbunny]

Very interesting article.

I have a book called The Classical Cookbook, by Andrew Dalby *pops to Amazon.com*. Wonderful recipes from the ancient world.

As for fish sauce (iirc, also known as liquamen in Rome) I use Squid Brand *pops*, which I was told is more "fishy" and possibly more like the Roman type than some of the others used in Asian cooking.

Here is a Roman recipe for a pear dessert using fish sauce that I found somewhere on the 'net. There are many sites with Roman recipes, if anyone is interested.

PATINA DE PIRIS (Pear Souffle)

(Apic. 4, 2, 35)

Ingredients:
------------
1kg pears (peeled and without core)
6 eggs
4 tblsp honey
100ml Passum
a little bit oil
50ml Liquamen, or 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cumin
ground pepper to taste

Instructions:
-------------

Mix cooked, peeled, and mashed pears (without core) together with pepper,cumin,honey, Passum, Liquamen and a bit of oil. Add eggs and put into a casserole. Cook approximately 30 minutes on small to moderate heat.
Serve with pepper sprinkled on the finished souffle.

[3AngelaD]

This was not a fast food. This was a sauce, the ancestor, in fact, of our Worcestershire sauce. There are those who argue the idea Worcestershire sauce came from India with the British Raj. I think it is a little of both, because some ingredients seem to be Indian, and the fermented fish is definitely Roman.

[wildbill]

Actually, I believe garum was a sauce, not a fast food in itself as described in the picture. That’s rather like comparing “pico de gallo sauce” with a food item such as a taco. Or registering ketchup as a vegetable.

On the other hand, I’m wondering if this delectable sauce of rotting fish entrails was similar to Muoc Nam, a hot Vietnamese sauce with a similar provenance of rotting fish.

Muoc Nam usually has to be served to Westerners in a VERY low-grade version. I once saw a restaurant in San Antonio emptied out of lunching round-eyes when the real McCoy was served in a an adjoining private dining room about 60 feet away.

Yum yum to exotic foods.

[Dustbunny]

Wow, really great pic, the condition of the find is amazing. Shame so many died so that almost 2000 years later we could see how they lived.

[tarheelswamprat]

I remember watching a documentary several years ago in which they analyzed garum from a chemical perspective, in an attempt to find out just why it was so highly prized as a sauce/seasoning. Turned out it was loaded with MSG, a natural flavor enhancer. In other words, it made everything taste better, and the Romans used it just like we use MSG.

[Larry Lucido]

I probably wouldn’t get many dates if I ate too much of that fish sauce.