Foodstuffs
By the first century AD, bread, considered a primary staple, had long replaced other foodstuffs on Roman tables and was the principal source of carbohydrates in their diet. Bread made of spelt (pauis farreus) was no longer used and wheat bread had now replaced it with various qualities ranging from the top to the lowest, eated by the poor people or for dogs (panis furfureus). Other ingredients were added to make ittastier: millet tlour provided a sweeter taste; honey, wine, milk, oil, candied fruit and pepper would give it more flavour; addition of lard and bacon made it more nutritious. Wheat flour could also be supplemented by flour made from broad bean, lentil, acorn or chestnut. The bread produced in the Vesuvius area, as demonstrated by archaeological finds as well as by fresco paintings, consisted of round loaves which could easily be divided into pieces thanks to a series of ray-like grooves on its crust. This was the so-called panis quadratus and a piece of this bread was called. Unlike the earlier habits of Italic peoples, the Roman diet in Imperial times was no longer vegetarian.

Prosperity had led to an increase in the consumption of foods such as meat which were rich in proteins. Initially, the consumption of beef was forbidden as cattle were animals mainly used in the fields for heavy transport and other tasks. Only on the occasion of religious ceremonies was the slaughter of an ox allowed and its meat could be eaten after the sacrifice. In spite of these restrictions, from the fourth century b. C. onwards cattle breeding for consumption started to spread and the famous gourmet Apicius describes some recipes for its preparation. Sheep and pigs as well as rabbits, poultry and game were widespread. As concerns the pig, Pliny exalted 50 different flavours of it. Some findings in Pompeii testifiy to this. Ox, sheep and pig bones were found in Casa di Iulius Polybius, while veal ribs were found in 1 6,7 and ram bones were discovered in a bronze cauldron in 1904. The remains of pigs and piglets were found in the villas of the area, rabbit remains were found in VII 12,13 as well as countless chicken bones. Paintings also document the consumption of ham and sausages. Poultry was also reared for egg laying, and egg leftovers have been found in dishes, saucepans and glass bowls. Among the other animal species most widely appreciated by Roman gourmets were peacocks, donkeys, dogs, flamingoes, ostriches, storks and dormouses, these one reared in special clay crates, the gliraria. Meat was boiled but also roasted as demonstrated by spits and grills found during excavations and testified to by paintings that illustrate their use.

Roman diet included flsh, crustaceans and shellfish too. The most popular tîsh were moray eel, eel, conger eel, tuna fish, gilthead, gray mullet, goat fish, mackerel, brill, sole, but anchovies and gobies were also consumed by the less wealthy. Fish were generally caught using nets, fishing lines and boulters. During the Empire, however, fish rearing in ponds and pools became increasingly fashionable. Numerous finds have been made of fish left-overs, identifiied as fish bones or scales in excavation reports, though wc are not always able to specify whether they were fish cooked to be consumed or left-overs as opposed to salted fish or the remains of fish sauces such as the renowned garum. The two clay pots found in Pompeii cxhibited bere contain fish left-overs while fish remains are displayed in the Antiquarium.
The consumption of crustaceans (lobsters, crayfish and prawns) was equally widespread and is documented by paintings and mosaics together with shellfiish such as gasteropods, bivalves and cephalopods of which shell has been left. Classical literature sources report that the first oyster banks ever were set up in Baia (in the modernday region of Campania) by Sergio Orata in 108 b.C.

Samples of main cereals, legumes, vegetables and fruits found in the Vesuvius area are displayed in the Antiquarium. Dates and carobs from Herculaneum are added as well as the broad bean soup found in a bronze pot in Pompeii. Lettuce seeds were found in a country house while Columella's poetic lines recall Pompeian cabbages and onions.
Honey was the only sweetener consumed in the Roman age. Used with must and dry fruits, this ingredient was often employed in the preparation of various dishes, not only for cakes and drinks. Honey was obtained from beehives and bee keeping was one of the widely practised forms of animal rearing in the Roman age. In Pompeii honey and a bee comb have been found and also inscriptions on amphoras quoting various types of honey and from different origin: Thyme honey, Corsican honey, skimmed honey.

Source
Soprintendenza Archeologica di Pompei