Kitchenalia: “Roman portable grills”

In “Kitchenalia” we introduce objects from different historical periods, discover a bit about their history and find out how each was made. We look at how, through Tastes Of History's practical experiments, we have learnt to best use them.

A while ago the author thought they heard someone, possibly in a documentary or something similar, state that ancient Roman spectators at sporting venues, such as the chariot races in the Circus Maximus, used portable grills to cook or heat snacks. The problem now, of course, is that the precise source of this claim cannot be recalled thus raising doubt, in our minds at least, that it was ever made. Regardless, Tastes Of History has several versions of portable cookers and grills from different historical periods such as the Roman craticula or testum, utensils we have previously covered and which one can discover more about by following the links. For the present purpose, however, the focus of this article is on internet search results for Roman portable grills that keep returning the example shown below.

This particular reproduction is sold by Armory Replicas in the USA, although other online vendors are available. The description accompanying the Armory Replicas product reads as follows:

“This ingenious portable grill is a replica of the type of gridiron grate popular among Roman soldiers and during the later Middle Ages. Much more efficient than digging in-ground fire pits, this type of portable grill made it easier to set up and break camp, a testament to the ingenuity that allowed the Romans to rule much of their known world. 100% hand riveted and crafted from high quality metal, the grill is contained within what appears to be a simple metal box; slotted cutouts and a removable interior tray combine to form a bottom platform to hold hot embers and small flames, this serves to essentially create a small, contained campfire. Inset approximately half an inch below the top of the box, the grilling platform is hinged to allow for easy access to the fire below while four raised corner flaps combine to create a secondary cooking platform approximately 1 inch above the top of the box. Sturdy legs at each corner serve to raise the box approximately 3 inches off the ground which helps to prevent scorching the ground while the hinged handle facilitates easy carriage of the surprisingly light (just 11 lbs) unit, making it extremely portable and a perfect camping tool.”

Looking at the product, and based on our experience, there is no doubt that this would make an ideal camping cooker, but so far Tastes Of History’s research can find no verifiable evidence that this portable grill ever existed in antiquity. To complicate matters, neither Armory Replicas nor any other vendor of this item provides a source for their “Roman cooking stove”. We are, therefore, left with a series of questions:

• What is it a reproduction of precisely? Moreover, is it a “fire pit”, a “grill” or a “stove”?

• Where is the original object from which this product is copied? Does it form part of a museum collection and if so, which museum?

• Did the makers have access to the original to create an accurate and faithful reproduction?

• If an example survives, from what historical context was it recovered? The “Roman” period and the “later Middle Ages” are significantly different times being separated by nearly a thousand years.

While iterating that this would make a fantastic camping cooker, without better evidence one can only conclude this is a modern product being marketed as a historical object for a re-enactment and living history audience. So, with little hope of answering the above questions, what evidence from the archaeological record do we have for portable cookers?

Within museum collections can be found numerous examples of surviving braziers, pot boilers or cookers. Nearly all are ceramic chimneys of differing heights as represented by the five examples pictured right. Note that each has a rectangular opening within which a fire can be lit. The smoke will vent upward through the chimney while the fire’s heat will warm any cookpot or vessel perched on top (as shown).

A very similar barrel-shaped version was discovered during excavations in Pompeii (left). Given the town was buried by volcanic pumice and the pyroclastic flow from the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79, then this terracotta stove probably also dates to 1st-century AD. It is currently housed in the Museo Archeologico Nazionale’s collection in Naples, Italy. The barrel body is supported on three terracotta legs presumably to raise the firebox, indicated by the square opening, to prevent the ground or a floor being scorched. The body is pierced either to improve airflow to draw heat upward or to vent smoke. The three horizontal impressed bands may be purely decorative, but they might act to strengthen the body. Two semi-circular lugs are visible on the rim, but presumably a third one is or was present but out of sight in the photograph. It is possibly that these lugs were to support a cooking vessel (cf. the shaped rim on the second from the left of the five stoves pictured above).

An earlier form of ancient Greek terracotta portable cooker or oven is pictured left. Recovered from the prehistoric city of Akrotiri on the island of Thera (modern Santorini), it is dated to the Late Cycladic period (ca. 1600 – 1100 BC). The tripod legs may have allowed this object to be set above a fire such that the rectilinear opening could be where bread was baked. If this is correct, then it is tempting to hypothesize that the two pierced lugs may have been to facilitate sealing the aperture to retain the heat during baking. Alternatively, the opening might have been the firebox itself with cooking or heating occurring on the flat top surface.

The ceramic tray pictured right is somewhat different to the object already mentioned. That shown is a replica of a form of cookware found at excavation sites from the Mycenaean period (1700 to 1050 BC) so it is roughly contemporary with the Akrotiri example above. For a long time, however. archaeologists could not figure out how ancient Greeks used these trays. Were they meant to be placed over a fire to catch drippings, or were they more like a portable barbeque pits to hold coals. The debate was resolved about a decade ago when Julie Hruby, an assistant professor of classics at Dartmouth College, decided to investigate by attempting to cook Mycenaean style. Hruby, along with ceramicist Connie Podleski, re-created a tray and experimented. With it placed on top of hot coals, the skewered meat (Greek souvlaki) did not get hot enough. By putting the coals directly in the pan, however, the meat cooked perfectly.

One of the examples showcased might have been the portable grills alluded to above upon which Roman spectators cooked or heated food while watching chariot racing. We cannot say “yes” with any certainty, however, but the Roman were masters of copying Greek ideas. So, could the “souvlaki tray” or something similar have been an option. It remains possible although there are further questions on whether there would have been space available inside a circus or amphitheatre for people to cook. Likewise, in a packed venue, just how practical would cooking be? Smoke obscuring other people’s view of the games would probably not have been welcomed, and how might these enterprising cooks safely dispose of the hot coals? Although Tastes Of History is not aware of any specific ordinance mentioning it, the fire risk to these public venues would probably have seen such practices forbidden. Moreover, it seems fair to think that food vendors at public spectacles would have been unhappy with the competition. They might even have pressed local magistrates to have a ban imposed. Just a thought. Bon appétit!