Torch: U.S. LXIX Summer 2020 | Page 16

pistorum. Under the emperor Diocletian, this guild negotiated profitable contracts to bake and distribute free bread for both the civilians and authorities.

Historians concluded that under Aurelian’s government, the state funded the grain supply bakers would then distribute their product. To protect themselves against the accusation of selling contaminating bread, bakers stamped their loaves. Citizens baking with communal ovens also stamped loaves to prevent stealing.

Meanwhile, the wealthy employed their own bakers, including pastry chefs (pistores dulciari) and confectioners (candidarii) with in-home ovens and even mills. Of these luxury goods, artolaganus was a bread made with honey, wine, milk, oil, pepper, and candied fruit.

Ancient Roman cuisine was more than bread, Apicius published a collection of over 400 recipes in the first known cookbook, De re coquinari, although the recipes bear little semblance to the Italian food we know today.

Sources

http://www.cerealialudi.org

http://penelope.uchicago.edu

https://www.ancienthistory archaeology.com

https://www.britannica.com

Morgan, Harry “Bakers and the Baking Trade in the Roman Empire” June 2015

Bread stamp used by professional

and civilian

bakers.