A New Portland Pop-Up Is Recreating Food From Ancient Rome | Eater Portland
"Chef Caraway Alexander, currently at the Tavern at Heathman, launched a months-long experiment in ancient Roman cooking and has opened a project presenting those dishes. "I've always really been interested in history," they say. "Like the nitty-gritty of how people existed, what their markets were like, what their day-to-day was like. I find that really fascinating." During research they discovered major differences from modern Italian food: "I was really surprised that it was so drastically different from how we know Italian foods today," they say. "There's no tomatoes, there's no eggplants, there's no coffee, there's no chocolate, there's no peppers, there's no pasta." The ancient Romans used honey for sweetness, fish sauce for salt, and olive oil for fat. They also used spices that are no longer common in European cooking, like celery and lovage seeds. After months of experimenting the chef launched the pop-up, billed as surely the only ancient Roman food pop-up in the Portland area; at the first event they served dishes including pork belly with a red wine reduction over spelt porridge; chicken wings crusted with barley, fried, and served with a grape must; and a salad with oenogarum (fish sauce, red wine, and olive oil), which Caraway describes as, "The original salad dressing. Like the first one." Follow on Instagram for updates." - Harry Cheadle
