"Gourmet and gourmand, exquisite luxury at the table and sinfully elegant banquets, actual or dubious refinement up to the use of emetics: these are these, thanks to Lucullus, Apicius and Petronius, the most frequent associations that come to mind when speaking of the "food" of the Romans. This, of course, has nothing to do with the daily diet of a large part of the population, which was extremely frugal and only rarely went beyond mere subsistence. (Karl-Wilhelm Weeber)"