"Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome" by Apicius is the oldest known cookbook in existence. There are recipes for cooking fish and seafood, game, chicken, pork, veal, and other domesticated animals and birds, for vegetable dishes, grains, beverages, and sauces; virtually the full range of cookery is covered. There are also methods for preserving food and revitalizing them in ways that are surprisingly still relevant.

Apicius, first century author of De Re Conquinaria (On Cookery), has been described as the most demanding of gourmets, and his amazingly sophisticated recipes havve long been awaiting rediscovery with practical adaptation for the modern kitchen. In The Roman Cookery of Apicius, John Edwards has given us a new, close translation of Apicius' manual, coupled with his adpted and tested versions of 360 superb recipes. Most attractive for modern lovers of fine cookery is the enormous variety, orginality and richness of flavours, achieved with entirely pure and natural ingredients. The many kinds of meats, vegetables, fish, fowl, shellfish, cheeses, fruits, nuts, herbs, spices, honey and wines - all familiar in themselves - here appear delectably transformed in surprising combinations. One can prepare theses recipes and actually experience the distinctive dishes of Apicius' day, with flavours that range from the delicate and subtle to the hot and pungent, or the richly sweet. This is a perfect manual for food lovers an adventurous cooks, hoping to be inspired.

2012 Reprint of 1958 New York Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. This is an English translation of the oldest known cookbook in existence. The book was originally written for professional cooks working in Ancient Rome, and contains actual recipes presented in the form of a cookbook. The work is translated with the intention of providing an actual cookbook rather than as a scholarly translation of an ancient text. Illustrated. The text is organized in ten books which are arranged in a manner similar to a modern cookbook: Epimeles - The Careful Housekeeper Sarcoptes - The Meat Mincer Cepuros - The Gardener Pandecter - Many Ingredients Ospreon - Pulse Aeropetes - Birds Polyteles - The Gourmet Tetrapus - The Quadruped Thalassa - The Sea Halieus - The Fisherman

Describes the preparation techniques and ingredients used to prepare food in Imperial Rome, with dozens of recipes for authentic dishes from the era.

Explores the cuisine of the Mediterranean in ancient times from 750 B.C. to A.D. 450.

Apicius is a collection of Roman cookery recipes, thought to have been compiled in the 1st century AD and written in a language in many ways closer to Vulgar than to Classical Latin; later recipes using Vulgar Latin (such as ficatum, bullire) were added to earlier recipes using Classical Latin (such as iecur, fervere). Based on textual analysis, the food scholar Bruno Laurioux believes that the surviving version only dates from the fifth century (that is, the end of the Roman Empire): "The history of De Re Coquinaria indeed belongs then to the Middle Ages".The name "Apicius" is taken from the habits of an early bearer of the name, Marcus Gavius Apicius, a Roman gourmet who lived sometime in the 1st century AD during the reign of Tiberius. He is sometimes erroneously asserted to be the author of the book pseudepigraphically attributed to him.Apicius is a text to be used in the kitchen. In the earliest printed editions, it was usually called De re coquinaria (On the Subject of Cooking), and attributed to an otherwise unknown Caelius Apicius, an invention based on the fact that one of the two manuscripts is headed with the words "API CAE" or rather because a few recipes are attributed to Apicius in the text: Patinam Apicianam sic facies (IV, 14) Ofellas Apicianas (VII, 2). It is also known as De re culinaria.

Longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize A Massachusetts Book Award “Must Read” Set amongst the scandal, wealth, and upstairs-downstairs politics of a Roman family, this “addictively readable first novel” (Kirkus Reviews) features the man who inspired the world’s oldest cookbook and the ambition that led to his destruction. In the twenty-sixth year of Augustus Caesar’s reign, Marcus Gavius Apicius has a singular ambition: to serve as culinary adviser to Caesar. To cement his legacy as Rome’s leading epicure, the wealthy Apicius acquires a young chef, Thrasius, for the exorbitant price of twenty thousand denarii. Apicius believes that the talented Thrasius is the key to his culinary success, and with the slave’s help he soon becomes known for his lavish parties and sumptuous meals. For his part, Thrasius finds a family among Apicius’s household, which includes his daughter, Apicata; his wife, Aelia; and her handmaiden Passia, with whom Thrasius falls passionately in love. But as Apicius draws closer to his ultimate goal, his dangerous single-mindedness threatens his young family and places his entire household at the mercy of the most powerful forces in Rome. “A gastronomical delight” (Associated Press), Feast of Sorrow is a vibrant novel, replete with love and betrayal, politics and intrigue, and sumptuous feasts that bring ancient Rome to life.