The ancient Romans were the world’s first gourmets. They owe their obsession with food, at least in part, to fellow citizen Marcus Gabius.
Better known as Apicius, he was a wealthy decadent epicure who in the first century wrote De Re Coquinaria (Concerning Culinary Matters), the world’s first cookbook. He specialized in spicy sauces and cakes and held extravagant feasts for his friends, in particular the emperor Tiberius’ son, at his seaside villa at Minturnae between Rome and Naples.
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