Unearthing Pompeii's Ancient Culinary Secrets
Max Miller, creator of the YouTube channel Tasting History, takes on the challenge of recreating a 2000-year-old "pizza" depicted on a Pompeiian fresco. The fresco, part of the xenia genre, shows a round bread with a spreadable cheese-like ingredient called moretum. Miller explains the preparation of moretum using details from a poem attributed to Virgil. The Roman bread is baked and topped with moretum, white cheese, dates, pomegranates, or other ingredients seen in the fresco. Miller notes that Pompeiians likely ate the toppings individually before consuming the bread.