Expert: Irulan Serena - 4/2/2008

Question
hi, I'm in high school working on college a speech assignment. my speech is "how to cook a grilled cheese sandwich." one of my points is who cooked it, how long it has been around, etc. i discovered the earliest it has been around was in some anicent roman cookbook. is that true? can you also tell me a bit more about it, more of what you know please? i never knew its been around this long; its so cool.

Answer
The grilled cheese sandwich is a modern invention, not an anceint one.

Romans breakfast foods consisted of simple food such as bread, water fruit, etc. only the rich ate cheese.

For most people in Ancient Rome at the time of the reign of the Emperor Hadrian, the day would begin at dawn.

Roman Slaves would have to get up earlier to be prepared for their masters, and would have duties to perform for the Roman household and their owners.

The first meal of the day was known as the ientaculum. For the vast majority of Romans, and Roman Slaves, this would have been just plain water and, maybe, a piece of bread.

Wealthier Ancient Romans would have eaten bread, honey and fruit in the morning and to drink they also, would have had plain water.

Sometimes for the well-off, there would have been cheese with the bread at breakfast. Also olives, and raisins might be eaten with the bread.

There was a custom in Ancient Rome to distribute free bread every day for the poorer people. Many Ancient Roman workers would grab some bread on their way to work and breakfast on that.

So, poor people, and slaves would have had only water, and if they were lucky, bread to break their morning fast.

Rich Ancient Romans in the time of the Emperor Hadrian might have eaten a more extravagant breakfast and would have had fish, fruit, meat, vegetables, cheese, olives and honey. They would have dipped their bread in wine.

The combination of cheese and bread was a common dialy food but niether toasted nor grilled.