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Food

Research: Food in Ancient Rome

August 8, 2019 by Elizabeth Drake

I have mentioned before that the backdrop for my fantasy story is grounded more in ancient Rome that more traditional medieval Europe.

RomanFoodTable
Bread. Wine. Fruit. Not much has changed in 3,000 years.

One of the areas I spent some time researching was food. As it happens, the scale of food production would not achieve the same levels in ancient Rome in Europe again until the 18th century. So they were quite advanced on this. Here are a few other things I learned.

Meals

Most people, even slaves, ate three meals a day at similar times to modern breakfast, lunch and dinner. While originally lunch was their largest meal of the day, it would eventually move to supper.

Cooking

Cooking was considered an art, and particularly fine cooking was associated with tasty and unique sauces. It was not uncommon to find wine, oils, vinegar, herbs, spices, and meat or fish juices mixed together to create these sauces. Much of this is known because books were dedicated to these recipes.

Available Foods

  • Cereals – wheat, barley, oats, rye, and millet.
  • Fruits – Apples, figs, grapes, pears, plums, dates, cherries and peaches. The Romans knew how to dry these to preserve their shelf life.
  • Vegetables – Legumes, lentils and peas, were the most common, all of which provided an excellent source of protein and was frequently mixed into bread. Other vegetables included asparagus, mushroom, turnips, onions, cucumbers, artichokes, and lettuce.
  • Olives and Olive Oil – These were so important in ancient Rome that they had their own classification.
  • Meat – This was expensive in ancient Rome and was commonly prepared in small cuts or as sausages. Almost any sort of bird imaginable from quails and pheasants to ostriches and peacocks were served. Most meat we are familiar with today was also on the Roman aristocrat’s table, including pork, veal, mutton, goat, boar and deer.
  • Seafood – Fish was certainly a part of their diet, but supply was irregular. Preservation techniques kept it a useful addition of protein to the Roman diet, and fish and shellfish were even farmed on artificial ponds. Fish sauce (garum) was an extremely popular method of flavoring.
  • Spices – (literally means valuable exotic commodity) were a huge part of good cooking. No fewer than 142 different spices have been identified to date in ancient sources. Some were grown nearby, others imported. This was a huge and sprawling empire, and they were trading with India and Asia.
  • Wine – Wine was served with most meals, frequently watered and flavored with honey. Beer was not served in Rome, and was only found in the northern part of the Roman Empire.

Food Conservation

They were adept at food conservation, and mastered numerous techniques.

  • Fruit and Vegetables were picked in brine or vinegar or stored in honey, wine, or grape juice. Fruits were also dried.
  • Meat was salted, dried, smoked, cured, pickled and preserved in honey

This made sure they could feed their large population and allowed more specialization

Feeding the Poor

Maintaining a regular food supply was very important. There was actually a part of the Roman bureaucracy dedicated to overseeing the regular supply of foodstuffs. In addition, the Romans established a monthly quota of grain at a fixed reasonable price for citizens. Olive oil, pork and wine were also allocated to poorer citizens.

I was surprised doing the research how much closer the ancient Roman diet was to our modern diet than medieval Europe. Now, about clan water…

Filed Under: Roman Empire Tagged With: ancient Rome, cooking, Food, Meals, research, Romance Novels, Romance Writer, Rome

Goal Update: Month One

January 31, 2019 by Elizabeth Drake

As I review my New Years Resolutions, I thought I would give a quick update of my goals to show I am holding myself accountable.

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Writing Goals

Release Two Romance Novels / Write Three First Drafts

I am still on track!! I finished my January goals, and while I waited for feedback from beta readers that I need to start my February goals, I did get to work on March goals. Not a lot, but with everything else going on, I am really proud of myself for completing January at all.

WunderlistJan19

Not Wasting Food

That has been more of a work in process. There were *so* many leftovers after the holidays that we didn’t make this goal in the early part of the month. We got better as the month went on, but we were far from perfect. That’s okay. February is a new month, and I have started it by cleaning out the fridge. We’ll try again.

Moving At Least Three Days a Week

Okay, I wasn’t perfect on this. And the bar isn’t all that high.

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Logging when I exercise has helped me learn a bit. With the new gym at work, I do manage to get at least two to three days of movement in. But they are all on workdays. I am terrible about exercising at home, even though we own a treadmill and elliptical machine. Time to do some thinking on how to get myself and my family into our finished basement so the opportunity to move more is at least there.

Logging Food

I have been pretty terrible about this. I am okay through lunch on workdays, but once I get home, I don’t remember. And, I have learned, I may have an after dinner sugar addiction. Hard to really see, though, as I have so little data. While I have identified the issue, I have yet to come up with a plan around it. Maybe I can set reminders or something in the app to ping me to log. Not sure. But I clearly am not remembering on my own.

 

How are you doing on your resolutions?

Filed Under: Resolutions Tagged With: First Draft, Food, Goals, logging food, moving, New Year's Resolutions, Romance Novels, Romance Writer, waste, Writing

New Years Resolutions 2019

December 20, 2018 by Elizabeth Drake

Another New Year’s Resolution post!

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I am trying really hard to set realistic goals this year. And I am going to check in on them quarterly.

 

My 2019 Resolutions:

1. Release Two Books This Year

Yes, I know we’d talked about three. But as long as I have a day job, I just don’t see that being realistic. I’d rather put out two books that I’m proud of than three that I think are only okay.

 

2. Write Three First Drafts

I’ve admitted that I spend a lot more time editing than writing, and that’s okay. BUT I need to make sure I always have a fresh supply of material to edit. The longer I spend time editing, the harder actually writing new material becomes. So this still needs to be a focus for me.

 

3. Eat food before it goes bad.

Didn’t see that one coming, did you? Our refrigerator is a black hole, and too often stuff goes in and I don’t find it until it’s sporting a mold colony. By eating what we buy, it saves us money and reduces our environmental footprint. We have a new, smaller, refrigerator. While it may seem counter-intuitive, I am hoping not being able to store as much and seeing more of it will help us achieve this goal.

 

4. Move at Least Three Days a Week

Walking. Biking. Whatever. Three days a week. This is a lot more doable since my office put in a small but very nice gym in the basement for employees. They even put in showers! I have already been working towards this goal, but I am adding it as I want to keep it at the forefront of my thoughts.

 

5. Keep a Food Journal

It’s hard to know what to change in your eating habits until you truly know what you are eating. I have a Fitbit I wear daily. It comes with a tracking program on the same app. I have tried to use it with varying degrees of success. I need to develop the habit of logging food, and that’s what this resolution is all about!

 

How about you? What are your resolutions? Have you started on them? Do you think you’re likely to keep them?

Filed Under: Resolutions Tagged With: Books, Eating Healthy, editing, exercise, First Draft, Food, journal, Move, New Year, New Year's Resolutions, Writing

Why Skipping Chai Lattés Won't Help

April 3, 2017 by Elizabeth Drake

Personal finance is, well, personal. Everyone has their unique needs and budget to meet those needs. However, the other day when a co-worker was lamenting that her husband said she had to cut out her couple of chai lattés a week so they could do a better job saving, I raised an eyebrow.

Now, I won’t disagree. I won’t give $5 for a cup of coffee or a chai latté. But when you think about it, is a chai latté habit really the lynchpin to savings?

I’m no expert on personal finance, and this shouldn’t be construed as “advice”, but a  bit of research from experts may change your mind.

finance1

I’m going to argue “no”. At $5 a piece, having a latté five days a week means you’re looking at $25 a week and $100 a month. Significant, yes, and probably a good thing to make a Saturday treat rather than a daily ritual, but not exactly the key to retirement.

Even then, it only contributes to savings if you take every dime you are saving from not buying those lattés and actually saving it.  Meaning, it goes directly into a bank account or to pay down debt. If you cut them out, but then spend the money on something else, you haven’t saved anything.

This why shopping a sale and “saving” 50% isn’t really saving. Not unless you would’ve spent the full amount anyway, and you then put the amount you “saved” into the bank.

The three main things most America spend their money on are food, housing, and transportation.  Not necessarily in that order, as it depends where you live, your income, and what phase of life you’re in as to what eats the largest part of your check. But for most of us, it’s still these three things.

 

Housing

Housing is the single largest expenditure for most Americans. A part of me wonders how much of this has to do with Americans buying far more house than they actually need. Certainly, if you live in New York City, there is no way to not spend a fortune. A 750 square foot one bedroom apartment runs over $3,000 a month. But if you live in the rust belt (excluding Chicago ) like I do? Well, this is where it gets tricky.

There is a tax incentive to buy a larger and more expensive home. For example, if you have a $100,000 mortgage at 5%, you pay $5,000 in interest for that year. Most people will be able to write off $1,250 from their taxes that year, making the interest only $3,750.

If you have a $200,000 mortgage at 5%, you’re writing off $2,500. A $500,000 mortgage means $6,250 in tax savings.

finance2

What this forgets, however, is you are still paying the interest on this and the principal. Sure, you own a more expensive house (maybe bigger, depending on location), but you’re still paying more in interest. Sometimes, a lot more. Plus, you’re paying for the principal, and that isn’t tax deductible.

Your monthly payments for these mortgages over 30 years are as follows:

  • $100,000 house – $536.82
  • $200,000 house – $1,073.64
  • $500,000 house – $2,684.11

So, yeah, you’re getting some nice tax savings, but you have to be able to afford the mortgage payment first.

But a house is a great investment, right? At the very least, you should be able to recoup the principal plus a nice return. Not necessarily. Nobel-prize winning economists don’t think so.

Still, it’s hard to compare investing in stocks versus a house as you get to live in your house. But, it begs the question, could you do with less house and put the difference into the wealth-generating power of the stock market?

You’ll also note that the comparison between owning a home and owning stocks doesn’t do a great job of taking into account several things:

  • Dividends from stocks,
  • Tax ramifications of capital gains, property taxes, or  selling a home.
  • Risk from lack of liquidity
  • Hidden costs of having a larger, more expensive home.

Let’s talk about the last two for a minute.

Risk from lack of liquidity comes from having a home that you must find a buyer for. If you own S&P 500 stocks, finding a buyer is very easy. These are heavily traded stocks and there is an entire exchange set-up to trade them. A house is a harder thing to sell. Location matters, and things can change over time. The factory that once employed 6,000 people is now gone. Maybe you’re facing urban creep. Or maybe you didn’t mind a small yard (less to take care of), but you’re in a town with a lot of young families that want yards.

There is always a risk you won’t be able to sell your home, or sell it for as much as it’s worth if you need to move quickly. This isn’t an issue with stocks.

There are also some additional costs to having a more expensive house. Namely, you have to pay property taxes on it. You also have to heat it, cool it, and maintain it.  Replacing the roof on 1,500 square foot house is much cheaper than replacing it on 3,000 square foot house. There’s yard work, shoveling, etc.

I am not saying to not buy a house. Not at all.There are so many reasons to do it as well. As much as I hate yard work and am allergic to grass, I love having a place that’s mine. A bit of roots and permanence.

You’d need to talk to your financial adviser to see if it makes fiscal sense for you.

Whether you buy a house or rent, for most Americans, housing is still our single largest expense. I know I felt pressure to buy the biggest house I could afford when I started searching for our home. Just the other day, a co-worker asked me when we’re upgrading now that we have children. As we bought our home in a district with excellent schools, I see no reason to move.

 

Transportation

This is something most people understand, but it can still be very difficult to tackle. Most of us get that the longer you own a car, overall, the cheaper that car is going to be.

A $25,000 car kept for 5 years costs its owner $5,000 per year. Keep it ten years, and you’re looking at $2,500 per year. Even if you have to make repairs to the vehicle as it ages, older cars are still cheaper to own. For example, if you had $1,000 of repairs per after those first five years, you’re still looking at total cost per year of $3,500 for the vehicle over its ten year life. And in the last 5 years, your out-of-pocket costs is only the repairs..

Keep the car 15 years, and you’re at $1,670 per year to own it plus repairs.

Americans are currently keeping their cars for 11.5 years, and that’s expected to increase to 11.8 years. As car makers have responded to consumer demand for more reliable vehicles, we are in turn keeping them longer. This offers quite the savings.

In addition to keeping cars longer, it’s also important to negotiate a good price on the car in the first place. There are a ton of articles out there about new car buying, yet I’m amazed how few people read them. A car is most family’s second largest purchase. Yet, the number of people that buy on emotion never ceases to surprise me.

I suppose that’s what the car companies are relying on with all of their advertising. They’re trying to appeal to us emotionally and get us to connect with their car. To equate a portion of our self-worth to what we drive, so we’ll want their car to make us feel better about ourselves.

finance3

Okay, yeah, it’s a sweet car. But where am I going to put the car seats?

 

I view my car as a means of getting the kids and me from point A to point B. I want the car to do it reliably and comfortably. Both cars I’ve bought I’m pretty sure will rust out before the powertrain goes.

Making the decision to buy new versus used is another area that needs attention. Yes, we bought our car new even though a lot of people questioned me on it. But as I explained at the time, the price I negotiated combined with the factory incentives, made a new car $1,000 more expensive than a two-year-old used car. We decided it was worth the extra $1,000 not to have to take the 30,000 miles someone else had put on the car when we put less than 10,000 miles a year on a car. But we thought about this. It was a decision.

Just like making the decision on the car to buy. Do you need a SUV, or would a car do? There’s a huge price difference between a Camry and Highlander.

 

Food

This is one area that I think is trickier than the others. Sure, grilled chicken breast with a side salad and sliced mangoes for dessert costs more than hot dogs and macaroni and cheese. But health is a many-faceted thing, and if you look at the graph, you’ll see healthcare is our 4th largest expense.

I’m not sure selecting the cheapest route is the best, though cutting back on eating out is a way to reduce our food budget and get better quality food into our bodies. If you look at the salt content at your favorite restaurants, you may be surprised. I know I was.

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Fueling ourselves with good quality food is better for our bodies, our brains, and help us be healthier and live longer

At the same time, this doesn’t mean you have to have those chai lattés every day, either.

As with housing and transportation, it’s about balance.

 

What about you? Any tips for saving money that have helped you? Do you find your household expenses mirror the same categories most Americans spend? For me, this was missing daycare which costs more than twice my mortgage.

Filed Under: Analysis, Finance, Uncategorized Tagged With: Decision, Food, Housing, Personal Finance, Transportation, What we Need, What we Want

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