TOP 10 LET THEM EAT... DORMICE?

1 GARUM

Ketchup and brown sauce are among today’s store cupboard staples, but the Romans had their own condiment of choice, which they doused liberally on their meals: garum, a fermented fish sauce. It was also popular with the ancient Greeks and Byzantines, but found its most ardent fans in the Romans.

Surviving garum recipes suggest one method involved using the crushed intestines of large fish such as tuna, which were then fermented in brine – sometimes alongside smaller whole fish. Containers with remnants of garum inside have been found in the ruins at Pompeii; their discovery has helped to date the eruption of Mount Vesuvius that destroyed the city, and also