Feeding the Army of Roman Britain

The Seattle book talk next month is sold out, but I’ll be sticking around to sign books and meet everyone until they force me out, so come down! booklarder.com/products/in-person-book-signing-max…

even in ancient rome the concept of "only buy eggs if they're cheap" existed

"So thank you to Wondrium for sponsoring this video as we dine on Hadrian's wall." My first thought was "Dang, that's gonna need a LOT of tenderizing!"😅

I love the thought of an annoyed Roman at the market pawing through mounds of apples looking for "100 good ones" 😂

The Lucco the pigherd story is what I love most about history. 2,000 years later, on a technology completely unimaginable at the time, strangers from all over the world are simultaneously thinking about Lucco & his pigs.

The concept of Hadrian’s Wall honestly cracks me up. Here we have the Roman Empire, conquering everything in sight, and when they came across the Scots they were just like “Nope. Don’t want to deal with that. Wall it is.”

I love how the concept of "if you love me send me things for food" is ancient

That looks delicious! Pork and apples always works. I also loved the insights into Roman logistics and camp life. As an Army veteran I can really identify with the guy telling his brother to send him a care package if he really loves him hahaha.

I'd love to see a restaurant open up with ancient roman dishes like this one. Sounds amazing to go along somewhere on a night out and experience what an "ancient roman flavour" is like, same as you would any regional cuisine today!

0:20 "all you can think is: What's for dinner?" -- that nicely sums up my experiences of military life. Some things never change ...

Never tire of seeing the hard tack clip incorporated whenever possible! 😂

I saw the news with the potential rediscovery of Sylphium sometime last year. It was found growing near the ruins of an old Roman settlement in Turkey, supposedly transplanted there, and the locale proved to be beneficial to its life cycle. Regardless of whither its the real thing or not, its been successfully grown in a greenhouse, and I couldn't help but wonder if you'd heard about it. Was a pleasant surprise to see you mentioning it in this video!

Max, I appreciate your pronunciations of the various non-English words you use throughout your series. It adds that extra connection to the subject on top of your presentation. Honestly, I think you're the next Alton Brown when it comes to culinary media. This is one of the best channels on Youtube.

Max's comically large pepper grinder took me completely off guard, I choked on my tea a little 😂

So the Romans are the reason I believe pork chops and applesauce taste great together? I learn something new every day! I can hardly wait for garum redux.

When I saw it was pork and apples I immediately knew it was gonna be good; those two somehow go incredibly well together. My wife recently made a dish that contained both pork and apples, and while it wasn't anything like this, it was still amazing. I don't know why tender pork and soft, juicy apples pair so well but they really do.

I love that you read from the Vindolander Tablets. It's like a quick, friendly peek into Ancient Roman Life, and pleases the frustrated ARCHAEOLOGIST in me! You're the BEST, Maximus!

Love how he oh so casually used the biggest pepper mill I've ever seen without mentioning it lol

You mentioned "a more edible carrot", and that reminded me of what I learned about carrots years ago. They were first domesticated in Afghanistan as a dye plant (originally, purple was the most common color for carrots). The first carrots were pretty tough and woody, not good for eating at all. Eventually, someone got the bright idea to breed carrots with more palatable texture and flavor. They caught on, and because Afghanistan was in the middle of so many trade routes, they spread rapidly around Europe and Asia. The Romans became quite fond of them, as noted in the video, and helped spread them further. Purple was still a common color, but yellow and orange variants also existed. The Dutch, in particular, liked the orange carrots, so much so that they became a symbol of William of Orange, and this ultimately led to the popularization of what we now think of as the standard orange carrot. Source: I read it on some website years ago. It seemed reasonably reliable, but I don't actually remember where it was, so take this history with a grain of salt. I got interested when I first encountered purple carrots at the grocery store; I wondered where they came from and was surprised to learn that purple was the original color. Max, any interest in doing an episode on carrots?

8:14 I'm a historical musician at a Fort, we reenact stuff from the 1800s and part of my job is playing certain songs for the soldiers whether it's for assembling them, telling them its lunch time, or ending the shift in the evening. That's one of the ways the musicians helped tell the time we used duty calls.