The Loaded Table

This book offers an unconventional approach to Roman culture, through food - or rather, food as it is represented in literature. Food is not generally thought of as the noblest of literary subjects, and this view is a legacy from the Romans, so it is curious that Roman writers chose so persistently to depict their society at the dinner-table. Why this was so, and what effect the inclusion of food had on the status of the literary texts that contained it, are among the questions discussed here. The book also addresses any of the problems that arise when a material subject is translated into words, and contains fresh interpretations of Latin texts that have been unjustly undervalued - comedy, satire, epigrams, letters and iambics. While often regarded as something trivial and gross, food was in fact one of the most suggestive images for Roman civilization.