Aeneas at the table

The meal of a Trojan noble who became an ancestor of Rome unfolds in three courses inherited from Latin tradition: gustatio (savory appetizers and eggs), mensa prima (roasted meats, cereal porridges), then mensa secunda (dried fruits, cheese, honey sweets). But before anyone touches the dish, a portion of salted grain and wine is offered to the gods and the Penates carried from Troy: at Aeneas's table, the meal always begins with the sacred.

Aeneas's cuisine oscillates between two poles: garum, fermented fish sauce that brings salty umami to almost everything, and honey, the only sweetener of Antiquity, which coats meats, wines, and fruits. This salty-sweet balance, spiked with pepper and aromatic herbs (lovage, cumin), is the true signature of Trojan and Roman tables.