Among the early Romans, the meal was not divided into starter-main-dessert: everything revolved around puls, the spelt (far) porridge that formed the daily staple. It was eaten warm, and a pulmentarium — something 'that goes with it' — was added: sheep's cheese, herbs from Latium, sometimes a bit of meat on feast or sacrifice days. The Romans called themselves pultiphagi, 'porridge-eaters'. The evening meal (cena) was the real meal; morning and midday were satisfied with cold leftovers and cheese.

The founding grain of archaic Latium. Ground on a stone mill, it became the flour for puls, but also the sacred ingredient of mola salsa — the salted flour thrown onto sacrificial victims. Here, everything begins and ends with far.