Nero at the table

The elite Roman meal unfolds while reclining on the couches of the triclinium. It opens with the gustatio (savory and spicy appetizers: eggs, olives, shellfish, honeyed wine), continues with the mensae primae (meat, fish, and vegetable dishes coated in sauces), and concludes with the mensa secunda (fruits, honey-and-pepper pastries). At Nero's table, this progression becomes a spectacle, like a play in several acts.

A fermented fish brine, the king condiment of all Roman cuisine. A few drops of this amber sauce with powerful umami season everything from oysters to honey desserts. Garum is to Rome what soy sauce is to Asia: ubiquitous, salty, deep, fermented.