e. from egg to apples. The first course consisted of an appetizer made of eggs, fish, shellfish, and raw vegetables which was referred to as 'gustatio' or 'promulsis.' The main course was called 'prima mensa' and was made up of cooked vegetables and different types of meat depending on the social status of the family in question. The final course was called 'secunda mensa' and represented a dessert consisting of fruit, or sweet pastries (Davis 1961, 115). Good eating and drinking was very important to ancient Rome. Huge fortunes were ruined because their possessors wanted to surpass their rivals as far as the extravagant culinary refinements they could find. Although the staples of early Roman diet were meat - in the case of the rich - wild fruits and nuts, as well as grapes, grain and olives (the main products...

"Food and Drink. How the Day Is Spent. The Dinner." A Day in Old Rome: A Picture of Roman Life. Cheshire, CT: Biblo-Moser, 1961: 100-121.
Hitchner, Bruce. "More Italy Than Province? Archaeology, Texts, and Culture Change in Roman Provence" Transactions of the American Philological Association 129 (1999): 375- 379

McIntosh, Elaine N. American Food Habits in Historical Perspective. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1995: 46-50.

Roman Diet." Ancient Rome. http://library.thinkquest.org/26602/diet.htm