English summary: Much is known about Roman civilisation, yet it is often the most concrete aspects of it that we know the least. A question as trivial as What did the Romans eat? was not one which preoccupied most authors and even a perusal of Roman literature would likely give us an erroneous idea of Roman eating habits. Trimalchio's banquet, described in Petronius' Satyricon, is an orgy that has nothing to do with the Romans' customary meals, and the only recipe book that has survived - the one written by Apicius - ...
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English summary: Much is known about Roman civilisation, yet it is often the most concrete aspects of it that we know the least. A question as trivial as What did the Romans eat? was not one which preoccupied most authors and even a perusal of Roman literature would likely give us an erroneous idea of Roman eating habits. Trimalchio's banquet, described in Petronius' Satyricon, is an orgy that has nothing to do with the Romans' customary meals, and the only recipe book that has survived - the one written by Apicius - favours rare and sophisticated dishes.That is why Jacques Andr, a very meticulous philologist, gleaned from the gamut of ancient literature all available information about what the average Roman was most likely to eat. Only a scholar of his class -who, until his death in 1994, through his classes at Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, trained generations of Latinists in the reading and editing of ancient texts - was capable of producing such a comprehensive survey. French description: On connait beaucoup de choses sur la civilisation romaine mais ce sont souvent les aspects les plus concrets que nous connaissons le moins. Une question aussi triviale que celle de savoir comment les Romains se nourrissaient n'entrait pas dans les preoccupations des auteurs et meme, si nous nous tournons vers la litterature, nous risquons d'avoir une idee fausse de la cuisine romaine. Le festin de Trimalcion, dans le Satiricon de Petrone, est une orgie qui n'a rien a voir avec les repas habituels des Romains et le seul livre de recettes que nous ayons, celui d'Apicius, privilegie les mets rares et recherches. C'est pourquoi Jacques Andre, en philologue minutieux, a-t-il glane a travers l'ensemble de la litterature antique les renseignements sur ce que, concretement, le Romain de base etait susceptible de manger. Seul un erudit de la classe de celui qui, jusqu'a sa disparition en 1994, forma, par son enseignement a l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, des generations de latinistes a la lecture et a l'edition des textes etait capable de constituer une telle somme.
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