Roman Culina Kitchen

Carole Raddato from FRANKFURT, Germany, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

What was a Roman Culina?

The culina was a small kitchen area that could be found in the houses of the more wealthy Roman citizens. It was typically a dark area that was poorly ventilated to prevent, as much as possible, undesirable smoke and odours from escaping and troubling the Roman family.

As the culina was staffed by slaves, the fact that it was a hot, smoky and generally unpleasant environment in which to operate was not really taken into much consideration. It would also be cluttered with amphorae of ingredients and many different culinary implements necessary for cooking various types of Roman food.

Location

The culina was usually situated on the corner or extremity of the house. Not only was this, as mentioned above, to minimize the smells and amount of smoke that might infiltrate the other rooms, but also as a precaution against the very real risk of fire.

Locating the culina kitchen in the center of the house would have meant a fire could spread in four different directions and cause significant damage to the house, possibly even burning it down and destroying it completely. Having it in the corner and the outside edge of the house meant that there was less opportunity for it to spread, and should a fire occur, it could be tackled and extinguished before it could do too much damage.

Construction

The walls of the kitchen were made of stone or brick, and the floor was made of tiles or bricks. The roof was made of wood or tiles, and it would likely slope downwards to allow rainwater to drain off.

This could be collected and stored as drinking water (although it was more common for this to be collected in the impluvium, a small draining pool in the middle of the atrium which was open to the elements).

Or, if the family was of particularly high-status and rich enough to have water piped directly from a nearby fountain or aqueduct, then this rainwater would act as a backup reserve in case the water supply was disrupted for any reason.

What Items Could be Found in a Culina?

The culina included all of the items that were required for preparing and cooking a typical Roman meal for a wealthy family. A fire would be lit which, as well as acting as an oven, would also allow the top surface to get hot enough for boiling water and cooking stews and soups in big pots, or even placing braziers on the top for grilling and cooking food.

The ancient Romans used a variety of equipment and utensils in their kitchens, all of which we would recognize today in some shape or form. Some of the most common ones included:

1. Mortar and Pestle - used for grinding spices and herbs.
2. Chopping Board - used for cutting vegetables, fruits, olives and meats.
3. Cauldron - used for boiling water and cooking stews and soups.
4. Skewers - used for roasting meat and vegetables.
5. Strainer - used for separating solid ingredients from liquids.
6. Ladle - used for serving soups and stews.
7. Pots and Pans - used for cooking and frying food.
8. Knives - used for cutting and slicing food.
9. Spoons - used for stirring and mixing ingredients.
10. Graters - used for grating cheese and other hard ingredients.
11. Oven - used for baking bread.
12. Tongs - used for handling hot objects.

A Change in Attitudes

The culina was an essential part of a typical Roman house. While today we would spend a lot of money on our kitchen to make it a spacious and comfortable environment, in ancient Rome a kitchen was, in most cases, a small room which was extremely unpleasant to work in and stuck as far away as possible from the nicer living areas of the house.

As mentioned already, this was the case for three reasons: to minimize the fisk of fire damage to the house, to prevent smoke and smells entering other rooms, and because it was occupied by slaves rather than the Roman family.

Whereas our kitchens today are a room of the house which is just as important... and more so for some people... as any other room in terms of the money spent on it and its appearance, in ancient Rome a culina kitchen was simply there to function as a place to cook and prepare the food.

Of course, it needs to be remembered that Roman houses which featured a dedicated culina tended to be the villas of the very rich, so a more accurate comparison today would be those wealthy enough to employ servants to cook for them. But even so, while they may not be slaves today (at least in civilized countries), the owner of a large house today who employed a cook would still desire to have a large, beautiful kitchen that was a major feature of the house itself, rather than a small room stuck somewhere at the back.

Garum (Fish Sauce) in Ancient Rome