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{{short description|Roman-era cookbook}}
{{More citations needed|date=August 2020}}
{{italic title}}
{{about|the Roman cookbook}}
[[File:Apicius Handschrift New York Academy of Medicine.jpg|thumb|right|The ''Apicius'' manuscript (ca. 900 CE) of the [[Fulda monastery|monastery of Fulda]] in Germany, which was acquired in 1929 by the [[New York Academy of Medicine]]]]
'''''Apicius''''', also known as '''''De re culinaria''''' or '''''De re coquinaria''''' (''On the Subject of Cooking''), is a collection of [[Food and dining in the Roman Empire|Roman cookery]] recipes, which may have been compiled in the fifth century CE,<ref name="Laurioux" /> or earlier. Its language is in many ways closer to [[Vulgar Latin|Vulgar]] than to [[Classical Latin]], with later recipes using Vulgar Latin (such as ''ficatum'', ''bullire'') added to earlier recipes using Classical Latin (such as ''iecur'', ''fervere'').
The book has been attributed to an otherwise unknown Caelius Apicius, an invention based on the fact that one of the two manuscripts is headed with the words "API CAE"<ref>Lindsay, p. 144</ref> or rather because a few recipes are attributed to Apicius in the text: Patinam Apicianam sic facies (IV, 14) Ofellas Apicianas (VII, 2). It has also been attributed to [[Marcus Gavius Apicius]], a Roman [[gourmet]] who lived sometime in the 1st century CE during the reign of [[Tiberius]]. The book also may have been authored by a number of different Roman cooks from the first century CE.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kurlansky |first1=Mark |title=Salt: A World History |date=2002 |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf Canada |location=Toronto |isbn=0-676-97268-3 |page=73}}</ref> Many of the recipes contain the ingredient [[silphium]], which is speculated to have become extinct in the first century CE, so this supports the earlier date. However, based on textual analysis, the food scholar [[Bruno Laurioux]] believes that the surviving version only dates from the fifth century (that is, the end of the Roman Empire): "The history of ''De Re Coquinaria'' indeed belongs then to the Middle Ages".<ref name="Laurioux">{{cite journal |last1=Laurioux |first1=Bruno |title=Cuisiner à l'Antique : Apicius au Moyen Age |journal=Médiévales |date=1994 |volume=13 |issue=26 |page=17-18 |doi=10.3406/medi.1994.1294 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/medi_0751-2708_1994_num_13_26_1294 |access-date=13 June 2020}}</ref>
== Organization ==
[[File:Apicius 1541.jpg|thumb|180px|Apicius, ''De re culinaria'' (Lyon: Sebastianus Gryphium, 1541)]]
The Latin text is organized in ten books with Greek titles, in an arrangement similar to that of a modern cookbook:<ref>''The Roman Cookery Book'', trans. Flower and Rosenbaum, p. 7.</ref>
# ''Epimeles'' — The Diligent
# ''Sarcoptes'' — The Butcher
# ''Cepuros'' — The Gardener
# ''Pandectes'' — The Encyclopedia
# ''Ospreon'' — Pulses & Legumes
# ''Aeropetes'' — The Bird
# ''Polyteles'' — The Sumptuous
# ''Tetrapus'' — The Quadruped, Four-legged animals
# ''Thalassa'' — The Sea, Seafood
# ''Halieus'' — The Fisherman
== Foods ==
The [[food]]s described in the book are useful for reconstructing the dietary habits of the ancient world around the [[Mediterranean Basin]].{{cn|date=August 2020}} But the recipes are geared for the wealthiest classes, and a few contain what were exotic ingredients at that time (e.g., [[flamingo]]). A sample recipe from Apicius (8.6.2–3) follows:<ref>''The Roman Cookery Book'', trans. Flower and Rosenbaum, pp. 188–89.</ref>
* '''Aliter haedinam sive agninam excaldatam:''' mittes in caccabum copadia. cepam, coriandrum minutatim succides, teres piper, ligusticum, cuminum, [[liquamen]], oleum, vinum. coques, exinanies in patina, amulo obligas. [Aliter haedinam sive agninam excaldatam] agnina a crudo trituram mortario accipere debet, caprina autem cum coquitur accipit trituram.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Romans in Britain - Recipe for Aliter haedinam sive agninam excaldatam (Lamb Stew) |url=https://romanobritain.org/2-arl_food/arl_roman_recipes-lamb_stew.php |access-date=2024-10-11 |website=romanobritain.org |language=en}}</ref>
* '''Hot kid or lamb [[stew]].''' Put the pieces of [[meat]] into a pan. Finely chop an [[onion]] and [[coriander]], pound pepper, [[lovage]], [[cumin]], [[garum]], [[cooking oil|oil]], and [[wine]]. Cook, turn out into a shallow pan, thicken with [[wheat starch]]. If you take [[lamb and mutton|lamb]] you should add the contents of the mortar while the meat is still raw, if [[goat meat|kid]], add it while it is cooking.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://silkroadgourmet.com/roman-roast-lamb-chop/ |access-date=2024-10-11 |website=silkroadgourmet.com}}</ref>
== Alternative editions ==
[[File:Apicius 1709.JPG|thumb|180px|''De opsoniis et condimentis'' (Amsterdam: J. Waesbergios), 1709. Frontispiece of the second edition of [[Martin Lister]]'s privately printed version of ''Apicius'']]
In a completely different manuscript, there is also a very abbreviated [[epitome]] entitled ''Apici excerpta a Vinidario'', a "pocket Apicius" by "an illustrious man" named [[Vinidarius]], made as late as the [[Carolingian era]].<ref>''Apicius: A Critical Edition with an Introduction and an English Translation'', ed. Grocok and Grainger, pp. 309–325.</ref> The Vinidarius of this book may have been a Goth, in which case his Gothic name may have been Vinithaharjis (𐍅𐌹𐌽𐌹𐌸𐌰𐌷𐌰𐍂𐌾𐌹𐍃), but this is only conjecture. Despite being called "illustrious", nothing about him is truly known.
''Apici excerpta a Vinidario'' survives in a single 8th-century [[uncial]] manuscript.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Milham |first1=Mary Ella |title=Leyden and the 'fortuna' of Apicius |journal=Renaissance Quarterly |date=1972 |volume=25 |issue=2 |page=190 |doi=10.2307/2859236 |jstor=2859236 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2859236 |access-date=24 April 2024}} For the manuscript, see [https://archivesetmanuscrits.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cc11341z BnF, MS lat. 10318, fols. 196–203].</ref> Despite the title, this booklet is not an excerpt purely from the ''Apicius'' text we have today, as it contains material not included in the longer ''Apicius'' manuscripts. Either some text was lost between the time the excerpt was made and the time the manuscripts were written, or there never was a "standard ''Apicius''" text because the contents changed over time as it was adapted by readers.
Once manuscripts surfaced, there were two early printed editions of ''Apicius'', in [[Milan]] (1498, under the title ''In re quoquinaria'') and [[Venice]] (1500). Four more editions in the next four decades reflect the appeal of ''Apicius''.  In the long-standard edition of C.&nbsp;T.&nbsp;Schuch (Heidelberg, 1867), the editor added some recipes from the Vinidarius manuscript.
Between 1498 (the date of the first printed edition) and 1936 (the date of [[Joseph Dommers Vehling]]'s translation into English and bibliography of Apicius), there were 14 editions of the Latin text (plus one possibly apocryphal edition). The work was not widely translated, however; the first translation was into [[Italian language|Italian]], in 1852, followed in the 20th century by two translations into [[German language|German]] and [[French language|French]]. The French translation by [[Bertrand Guégan]] was awarded the 1934 [[Prix Langlois]] by the [[Académie française]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.academie-francaise.fr/bertrand-guegan|title=Bertrand GUÉGAN – Académie française|work=academie-francaise.fr}}</ref>
== See also ==
* [[Medieval cuisine]]
* [[Le Viandier]] – a recipe collection generally credited to Guillaume Tirel, c 1300
* [[Liber de Coquina]] – (The book of cooking/cookery) is one of the oldest medieval cookbooks.
* [[The Forme of Cury]] – (Method of Cooking, cury being from Middle French cuire: to cook) is an extensive collection of medieval English recipes of the 14th century.
== Notes ==
{{reflist}}
== Bibliography ==
=== Texts and translations ===
* ''Apicii decem libri qui dicuntur De re coquinaria'' ed. Mary Ella Milham. Leipzig: Teubner, 1969. [Latin]
* ''The Roman Cookery Book: A Critical Translation of the Art of Cooking By Apicius for Use in the Study and the Kitchen''. Trans. Barbara Flower and Elisabeth Rosenbaum. London: Harrap, 1958. [Latin and English]
* ''Apicius: A Critical Edition with an Introduction and an English Translation''. Ed. and trans. Christopher Grocock and Sally Grainger. Totnes:Prospect Books, 2006. {{ISBN|1-903018-13-7}} [Latin and English]
* Apicius. ''L'art culinaire''. Ed. and trans. Jacques André. Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1974. [Latin and French]
* Apicius. ''Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome''. Trans. Joseph Dommers Vehling. 1936. [English]
* ''The Roman Cookery of Apicius''. Trans. John Edwards. Vancouver: Hartley & Marks, 1984. [English]
* Nicole van der Auwera & Ad Meskens, Apicius. ''De re coquinaria: De romeinse kookkunst''. Trans. Nicole van der Auwera and Ad Meskens. Archief- en Bibliotheekwezen in België, Extranummer 63. Brussels, Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 2001. [Dutch]
=== Secondary material ===
* Alföldi-Rosenbaum, Elisabeth (1972). "''Apicius de re coquinaria'' and the ''Vita Heliogabali''". In Straub, J., ed., ''Bonner Historia-Augusta-Colloquium 1970''. Bonn, 1972. Pp.&nbsp;5–18.
* Bode, Matthias (1999). ''Apicius – Anmerkungen zum römischen Kochbuch''. St. Katharinen: Scripta Mercaturae Verlag.
* Déry, Carol. "The Art of Apicius". In Walker, Harlan, ed. ''Cooks and Other People: Proceedings of the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 1995''. Totnes: Prospect Books. Pp.&nbsp;111–17.
* Grainger, Sally (2006). ''Cooking'' Apicius: ''Roman Recipes for Today''. Totnes: Prospect Books.
* Grainger, Sally (2007). "The Myth of Apicius". ''Gastronomica'', '''7'''(2): 71–77.
* Lindsay, H. (1997). “Who was Apicius?”. ''Symbolae Osloenses'', '''72''': 144-154.
* Mayo, H. (2008). "New York Academy of Medicine MS1 and the textual tradition of Apicius". In Coulson, F. T., & Grotans, A., eds., ''Classica et Beneventana: Essays Presented to Virginia Brown on the Occasion of her 65th Birthday''. Turnhout: Brepols. Pp.&nbsp;111–135.
* [[Mary Ella Milham|Milham, Mary Ella]] (1950). ''A Glossarial Index to'' De re coquinaria ''of Apicius''. Ph.D. thesis, University of Wisconsin.
== External links ==
=== Latin text ===
{{Wikisourcelang|la|De re coquinaria|''De re coquinaria''}}
{{wiktionary}}
* [http://www.fh-augsburg.de/%7Eharsch/Chronologia/Lspost04/Apicius/api_intr.html Bibliotheca Augustana: De Re Coquinaria Libri Decem] Mary Ella Milham's edition, nicely presented (Latin)
* [http://www.thelatinlibrary.com/apicius.html Text of the cookbook in Latin] at [[The Latin Library]]
* {{Gutenberg author | id=6712}}
* {{Internet Archive author}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100408002344/http://users.ipa.net/~tanker/apicius.htm Another version of the Latin text (source not stated)]
* [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Apicius/home.html Vehling English translation]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131104032450/http://www.celtnet.org.uk/recipes/apicius-coquinaria.php Diplomatic version of the Latin text, with parallel English translation and modern redaction of the recipes.]
* [https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8479004f/f206.item Digital facsimile of ''Apici excerpta a Vinidario''], BnF, MS lat. 10318, fols. 196–203, on [[Gallica]]
=== Secondary material ===
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20191206060900/http://www.madeinmilanwine.com:80/Pop_up/Romanrecipes.html How to prepare a 5-dish ancient Roman meal by Apicius]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20200210103540/http://www.madeinmilanwine.com/Pop_up/Romanrecipes_alternatives.html An alternate 5-dish ancient Roman meal by Apicius]
* [http://penelope.uchicago.edu/~grout/encyclopaedia_romana/wine/apicius.html James Grout's ''Apicius'', part of the ''Encyclopædia Romana'']
* [http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~mjw/recipes/ethnic/historical/ant-rom-coll.html Partial re-translation from a German translation, adapted for modern cooking styles (the untranslated "Liebstoeckl" is lovage; Poleiminze is pennyroyal; Saturei is savory herb)]
* [https://dar-urtatim.palazzo-giordano.org/Urtatim/Food/2003-Mists_Bardic/index.html A 6 course banquet incorporating 12 Apician recipes and 9 from other Roman sources]
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[[Category:Prose texts in Latin]]
[[Category:Roman cookbooks]]
[[Category:Roman cuisine]]
[[Category:4th-century books in Latin]]
[[Category:5th-century books in Latin]]