Pork, goat, fish and beans to go? The ancient Romans took hot food by fleeing in the same way that New Yorkers do.
Images of a food cart on the newly unearthed and beautifully decorated street reveal the fast food the Romans would have enjoyed before the ancient city was destroyed in a volcanic eruption nearly 2,000 years ago.
The impressive discovery is the first time a hot food and drink restaurant, known as a thermopolium, has been excavated in Pompeii, Massimo Osanna, head of the Pompeii Archaeological Park, said on Saturday.
Part of the street vending machine was unearthed last year as part of the effort to prop up the ruins of the old city. As excavations continued, archaeologists discovered a multi-sided countertop with wide holes containing deep containers for hot food inserted into its top, as opposed to the configuration of modern salad bars.
The countertop is frescoed with images of an underwater nymph riding a horse, two mallard ducks and a rooster upside down and a dog with a leash. The interior of the picture frame was vandalized with vulgar graffiti.
Images of the duck and chicken represent what was on the menu that day, anthropologists say. Fragment of duck bone was found in one of the containers along with remains of goats, pigs, fish and snails. According to Pompeian anthropologist Valeria Amoretti, a container of wine contained traces of ground beans that were added to an old wine to give it flavor and color.
“We know what they ate that day,” Osanna said. Food scraps show “what is popular among ordinary people,” Osanna said, noting that the Roman elite did not frequent street food.
Workers also unearthed a bronze spoon, nine amphorae, which were popular food containers in Roman times, a pair of flasks, a ceramic oil container, and the complete skeleton of a dog.
The canine skeleton surprised archaeologists by its small height of 8 to 10 inches; a discovery that “bears witness to selective breeding in Roman times to achieve this result,” Amoretti said.
As any New York street vendor knows it’s worth it – location is everything. Scientists noted that this restaurant appeared to have a good restaurant, next to a small square with a fountain.
Pompeii was destroyed by the volcanic eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD
With AP cables