The Most Startling Hygiene Practices From The Ancient Roman Empire
Turns out that ancient Roman life was nowhere near as clean as their crispy white togas. Pretty much every component of Roman society – from food to medicine to how they passed time – was unhygienic, shocking, and too gross to be mentioned in polite conversation. Thankfully, though, none of these habits withstood the test of time.
A Disturbing Read
Diaries kept by a passionate Roman foodie named Apicius contain some of the utterly bonkers recipes that were considered the best eats across the Empire. They read more like magic potion ingredients than anything from a cookbook.
Witch Meals
There were meals that sounded particularly witchy, like spayed sow's womb, paunch of a suckling pig and stuffed dormouse casserole. But the Romans experimented with eating pretty much any animal you can think of – parrots, peacocks, dolphins and even giraffes.
Not Your Usual Eggs
And on recovered Roman shipwrecks, archaeologists have found jars of a popular condiment called garum. This sun-fermented fish sauce was often sopped up with bread. It was also loaded with parasitic tapeworm eggs. No thanks!
Floor Scraps
Etiquette standards were nonexistent in Ancient Rome. Dinner party guests simply disposed of their cleaned animal bones by tossing them willy-nilly onto the floor. Later, slaves were ordered to clean this mulch of food scraps.
