Feast like a Roman?

 Elite ancient Romans feasted to show their wealth and had disgusting manners!

The ancient Romans lived in a very unequal society. There were the very wealthy elite who lived lives of great wealth and luxury, there were the soldiers that protected the society and there were farmers and urban workers who lived very humble lives. Finally there were the slaves, who were mostly from conquered nations such as Greeks, Germans and Celts. In other words the slaves were mostly white, European people. The slaves had few or no rights and one of their most disgusting jobs was to clean up after their masters after they threw up between meals. Wealthy Romans liked to feast for hours and hours as a way of showing off their money. They ate lying on their bellies so the food would be distributed through their body rather than concentrated in their stomachs. In addition they ate for hours well into the night. Between meals they left the couch to go into nearby areas to throw up. The poor slaves had to clean the mess up. Not only did the wealthy Romans throw up while eating so they could continue to stuff themselves with more and more food, they also believed passing gas was healthy. The guests would also throw their food on the floor and enjoyed music and other forms of entertainment while they gorged themselves. Thus an ancient Roman feast must have been a truly disgusting event by our standards. See the article below to learn more details:

Lying down and vomiting between courses: This is how Ancient Romans would feast