{"id":294505,"date":"2025-06-15T07:53:39","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T07:53:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/this-ancient-roman-casual-dining-joint-served-fish-chicken-and-fried-songbird\/"},"modified":"2025-06-15T07:53:39","modified_gmt":"2025-06-15T07:53:39","slug":"this-ancient-roman-casual-dining-joint-served-fish-chicken-and-fried-songbird","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=294505","title":{"rendered":"This Ancient Roman Casual Dining Joint Served Fish, Chicken and\u2014Fried Songbird"},"content":{"rendered":"


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A new analysis of the bones in the eatery\u2019s garbage pit challenges the elite status of thrush in the Roman diet<\/h2>\n
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Sonja Anderson<\/a><\/p>\n

– Daily Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n

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A painting found in Pompeii depicting eggs, bronze dishes and two small birds hung on a wall
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On the Spanish island of Mallorca, a researcher has discovered a 2,000-year-old Roman roadside eatery. Complete with a large cesspit filled with animal bones, the site reveals a menu of ancient Roman street food: mammals, chicken, fish and, most notably, song thrushes.<\/p>\n

The pit lies in the ancient Roman city of Pollentia<\/a>, which the Roman Empire<\/a> settled after conquering Spain\u2019s Balearic Islands<\/a> in the second century B.C.E., as Alejandro Valenzuela<\/a>, a researcher at the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies<\/a> in Mallorca, writes in a study recently published in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology<\/em><\/a>. The Romans turned Pollentia into a thriving urban seaport, building a forum, Tuscan temple, theater and cemeteries.<\/p>\n

Among Pollentia\u2019s tabernae\u2014its network of shops\u2014is a building first excavated in the 1990s, containing a bar embedded with six amphorae<\/a>, large jars that commonly contained wine or olive oil. As Valenzuela writes, this setup is typical for a popina<\/a>, a Roman tavern serving wine and casual food. The popina is connected to a cesspit, measuring four feet across and nearly 13 feet deep, dug around 10 B.C.E.<\/p>\n

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(A) A map of Mallorca’s location in the Mediterranean Sea (B) The popina’s location among Pollentia’s tabernae (C) A diagram of the 13-foot-deep garbage pit<\/p>\n

Alejandro Valenzuela \/ International Journal of Osteoarchaeology<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the new study, Valenzuela analyzed the contents of this garbage pit. It contains many prepared and cooked bones of mammals, fish and birds. Of the various avian species present, the pit\u2019s most common bird bones belong to thrushes<\/a>\u2014delicate, brown and white speckled songbirds that grow to about nine inches<\/a> long, making them larger than a chickadee and smaller than a pigeon.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on local culinary traditions here in Mallorca\u2014where song thrushes (Turdus philomelos<\/em>) are still occasionally consumed\u2014I can say from personal experience that their flavor is more akin to small game birds like quail than to chicken,\u201d Valenzuela tells Live Science<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Kristina Killgrove.<\/p>\n

Examining the skeletons in the pit, Valenzuela found that most of the thrush bones were skulls, breastbones and distal bones of wings and legs. Largely missing from the pit were the thrushes\u2019 larger wing, chest and leg bones, \u201cwhich are associated with the meatiest portions of the bird,\u201d Valenzuela writes in the study.<\/p>\n

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A representation of the different thrush bones found in the Pollentia cesspit<\/p>\n

Alejandro Valenzuela \/ International Journal of Osteoarchaeology<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The researcher posits that the Pollentia tavern\u2019s cooks prepared a thrush for consumption by removing its sternum to flatten it, then quickly grilling or pan-frying the bird. The birds may have been served on plates\u2014the cesspit also contains shards of ceramic\u2014but \u201cgiven their small size and the street food context, it\u2019s also entirely plausible that they were presented on skewers or sticks for easier handling\u201d Valenzuela tells Live Science<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Historians have long thought that thrush was a luxury dish for Romans, as it was recorded as a delicacy in some ancient literature. Some sources detail the practice of thrush husbandry\u2014raising them in bulk for food\u2014so their meat could be enjoyed by elites throughout the year. For example, the Greek historian Plutarch<\/a> wrote in his biography<\/a> of the Roman general Lucullus<\/a> that \u201ca thrush could not be found anywhere in the summer season except where Lucullus kept them fattening.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, thrushes\u2019 overwhelming presence in the Pollentia tavern cesspit suggests that instead they were \u201cwidely consumed, forming part of the everyday diet and urban food economy,\u201d writes Valenzuela. The research illuminates part of the Roman diet and challenges historical assumptions about thrush consumption, but it also emphasizes the importance of casual dining in ancient cities\u2014a global market that more than survives today.<\/p>\n

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