Romans no longer sat at a table, instead they lay down on special dining couches. The eating habits of rich Romans were lavish and grand when compared to those of an ordinary Roman peasant. They did use spoons and knives while eating. Roman foodies dragged out a pleasant dinner with elite food and surprising dishes, entertainments between courses, and conversational games. The basic ingredient of an ancient Roman dinner was the bread of various types of flour: black bread (panis rusticus, plebeius), white bread (panis secundaris) and the most delicate luxury bread (panis candidus, uniform). Only the people who could afford it a meal like this, could get one. The ancient Roman Patricians usually had more food options then Plebeians. The food and drink served for the main course varied according to the Roman classes. An elaborate Roman “tasting menu” aimed at really impressing the guests could last many hours, as today. The Roman dinner party is a popular and recurrent theme in Roman literature. They would have a feast for working and sweating the whole day. The Romans also had various candies made from dried fruit. Dinner was the one meal the Romans did eat, even if it was at a different time of day. It was known as "cena", Latin for dinner. Romans typically had three meals a day: jentaculum was their breakfast, prandium was the name for lunch and cena or dinner was the main meal. Dietary habits were affected by the political changes from kingdom to republic to empire, and the empire's enormous expansion, which exposed Romans to many new provincial culinary habits and cooking methods.. The Romans used to eat 3 times a day: a quick breakfast, a light snack for lunch and a more consistent dinner starting between 3 and 5 PM that for rich families could even last up to 6 … Yoga With Paige Get on your mat and discover yourself Menu Skip to content They would love to drink a lot. The Romans ate a kind of big dinner. This meal was partially small and it was straight after dinner. Archaeologists studying the eating habits of ancient Etruscans and Romans have found that pork was the staple of Italian cuisine before and during the Roman Empire. Food was still mostly eaten with your fingers. In the UK the heyday of dinner was in the Middle Ages. Over time for the Patrician class (upper class) this simple style of living changed. So wheat (known to the Romans as Ancient Roman cuisine changed greatly over the duration of the civilization's existence. The Romans did not have forks. Food was a very important aspect of the Roman Empire.The rich and poor Romans ate very different diets and the supply of food was very important to the emperor to express his relationship to the Roman people.See below for more information and facts about Roman food. Poor Romans did not have access to much meat, but they did add it to their diet from time to time. 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