Forum Piscarium

Seafood has always been important around the Mediterranean. The sea could be guaranteed to feed everyone even when crops failed. Fish was also important to the Romans for garum, a fish sauce that they added to many meals to give them extra pep and flavour. Garum, however, may not sound all that appetising to many modern diners: it was made from the salted intestines of fish, left to ferment for many months. The exact flavour of a particular garum depended on the fish used, and the herbs added during fermentation and bottling in amphorae. The varied and flavoursome garum trade was actually quite widespread and important in the Roman world. Troops expected garum to be available to season their food, even if they were on duty in far Britannia! As well as being a tasty, if not essential, addition to Roman meals, garum was also used as a medicine for all kinds of problems although, given the chief ingredients, it was probably most used as a cure for constipation! Even so, garum was not universally liked: Seneca, the Roman stoic philosopher, hated the filthy stuff even though his family came from a garum-making region of Hispania.