14 DAY TRIAL // New studies conducted on food debris collected from the sewers of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii reveal that the commoners in the doomed city ate a rather varied diet. However, when compared to what noblemen were eating, their diets were plain. The latter ate both giraffes and sea urchins, experts now say.
Food scraps were preserved in the drains of Pompeii when the city was annihilated by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, in 79 AD. The entire settlement was buried under a layer of ash and purnice some 4 to 6 meters (13 to 20 feet) deep, LiveScience reports. Very few people survived this catastrophe.
Analysis of the food recovered from the drainage system reveals that lower- and middle-class residents dined on a regular, varied diet, but did not eat anything fancy. However, those who were wealthier indulged in delicacies such as giraffe meat or sea urchins, say researchers from the University of Cincinnati.
According to the new study, Pompeii commoners mostly ate stuff like lentils, olives, nuts and fish, and even salted meat at some time. Upscale restaurants sold shellfish, sea urchins, and giraffe legs, and made everything go down smoother with spices imported from regions as far away as Indonesia.