History for Kids: Ancient Roman Easy Snack Activity and Video

Today we’re going to make a super easy snack recipe inspired by ancient Roman food! The Ancient Romans ate a lot of different foods, but they ate bread with almost every meal. Inspired by some ancient Roman recipes and deserts, we’re going to make some super easy to make toast with honey! This activity is great for kids of all ages, kids can learn all about some of the interesting dishes and snacks that the ancient Romans ate while making their own easy Roman inspired snack!

Kids can learn how to make a super easy and delicious snack while also feeling included in the kitchen! You can do this activity with kids of any age at home or in the class room. Its a super easy to make snack that kids will love! If you want to learn more about what the Romans ate, check out the end of this article!

Ancient Roman snack activity

Lets make an Ancient Roman inspired snack with this super easy honey toast recipe! We’re gonna make some delicious honey toast and toast it in the oven. The Romans didn’t have toasters, so an oven is more authentic! If you are unable to use an oven, the toaster works great too!

Want to learn more about what the Romans ate? Check out the end of this article!

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What you’ll need to make ancient roman honey bread snack

how to make ancient Roman honey bread

Step 1

Gather all your supplies together.

Step 2

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (176 degrees Celsius).

If you are unable to use an oven, you can use a toaster instead. Just toast the bread to your desired setting.

Step 3

Grab your baking sheet large enough to hold the amount of bread you want to toast.

Step 4

Place your slices of bread on the pan. Place them in the oven for about five minutes or until they are crispy.

Step 5

Once the slices are toasted to your liking, flip the slices over and bake until that side is golden brown.

Step 6

After the bread is done toasting, remove it from the oven. If you would like you can add butter to the toast.

Step 7

Add honey to your toast, serve, and enjoy! Let us know how it turned out in the comments!

Ancient Roman inspired snack

How did your honey toast turn out? Did you like it? Let us know in the comments!

Tips to Make an easy ancient roman snack

• Line your baking sheet with tinfoil to make clean up quick and easy!
• Lightly butter your toast before baking to give it a crispier texture.
• Use a bakery bread like sourdough or a baguette for a better taste.
• If you want to make this snack quicker, use a toaster instead of the oven.

How did they eat in Ancient Rome?

The romans are a variety of foods, some similar to what we eat today! However the Romans did not have access to the technology we have, like electric ovens and refrigerators. Despite this, the Romans were able to come up with many unique recipes, dishes, and meals.

The ancient Romans also dined in a unique way, they did not sit at a table like we do. Instead they laid down to eat! The Romans would lay down on raised “beds” around a table facing the table. To eat, the Romans would prop themselves up on their forearms.

Many rich Romans ate decadent meals at their unique tables, but the every-day Roman citizen normally wouldn’t eat like that! Many of these Romans ate bread, mulled wine, and the ancient Roman equivalent of fast food. Roman fast food stands or snack counters, called  thermopolia, were a common way for the average Roman to get their food.

The Ancient roman Diet

Romans ate many of the same things we ate, they ate a lot of bread, cheese, fruits and vegetables, and of course wine! However, some of our everyday food like potatoes weren’t eaten by the Romans. Foods like potatoes, corn, and tomatoes were not available to the Romans. Those foods and many others are native to North and South America, and wouldn’t become available to people in Europe, Africa, and Asia until the 15th and 16th centuries!

If the Romans didn’t have these food what did they eat? Bread, as stated earlier, was a staple in the Roman diet. Romans of all social classes usually ate bread with their meals.

Richer Romans usually ate meats, fruits, fish, eggs, and vegetables in most of their meals as well. Middle class and poor Romans usually ate the Roman equivalent of fast food from thermopolia, or snack counters. Some would usually eat a food called puls which was easy to make and similar to porridge.

The poor citizens of Rome also received a free monthly ration of grain from the Roman government. This grain could be used to make breads, baked goods, or other cereal grain products. This policy was made during the Roman Republic as a form on a social safety net that kept Romans well fed and prevented famine. This grain policy would be highly important to the life of the average Roman citizen!

For desert or a sweet treat, the Romans usually ate fruits or some sort of baked good or bread with honey and fruit. The Greco-Roman physician Galen writes of a type of “pancake” that was topped with honey and poppy seeds that seemed to be a common desert item. Honey was a common sweetener for the Romans as well. Sugar was not used as a sweetener like it is today. Rather, it was used as a medical remedy. Baked goods, fruit and honey were not the only sweet items the Romans ate, meats and cheeses could also be cured a specific way to make them taste sweet.

Roman Honey cake video!

Want to try to make some near authentic ancient Roman food? Here’s a fun and informative video by How to Cook That on how to make an ancient Roman honey cake! Did you try to make this recipe? Let us know how it turned out!

Want to Learn more?

Want to learn more about how the Ancient Romans ate? Check out these articles and videos I found while researching for this activity!

I also did some research into the origins of sugar, and the Columbian Exchange in relation to this topic! Here are the articles I found:

MORE FUN HISTORY CRAFTS AND ACTIVITIES FROM KIDS ACTIVITIES BLOG

Sources

“Columbian Exchange.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., February 18, 2024. Last modified February 18, 2024. Accessed March 10, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/event/Columbian-exchange. 

Dinesh Babu, Kandhalu Sagadevan, Vardhana Janakiraman, Harunipriya Palaniswamy, Lakshmi Kasirajan, Raju Gomathi, and Thakku R Ramkumar. “A Short Review on Sugarcane: Its Domestication, Molecular Manipulations and Future Perspectives.” Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution. U.S. National Library of Medicine, September 16, 2022. Last modified September 16, 2022. Accessed March 10, 2024. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9483297/. 

“History of Sugar.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, February 7, 2024. Last modified February 7, 2024. Accessed March 10, 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_sugar#:~:text=There%20are%20records%20of%20knowledge,and%20not%20as%20a%20food. 

Imperium Romanum. “Food in Ancient Rome – Documentary.” YouTube. YouTube, April 8, 2022. Last modified April 8, 2022. Accessed March 10, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PaORdCEFqI. 

Invicta. “How They Did It – Fast Food in Ancient Rome Documentary.” YouTube. YouTube, June 5, 2021. Last modified June 5, 2021. Accessed March 10, 2024. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5Qz00eUF5Q&t=335s. 

Migdol, Erin. “What Did Ancient Romans Eat?” Getty News. Getty News, November 20, 2020. Last modified November 20, 2020. Accessed March 10, 2024. https://www.getty.edu/news/what-did-ancient-romans-eat/. 

Reardon, Ann. “The 2000 Year Old Honey Cake from Pompeii: How to Cook That Ann Reardon.” YouTube. YouTube, June 14, 2019. Last modified June 14, 2019. Accessed March 10, 2024. https://youtu.be/UVQLbomrNBM?si=Sr70hHdSiP3CL912. 

“Triangular Trade.” Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., n.d. Accessed March 10, 2024. https://www.britannica.com/money/triangular-trade. 

Zoe Ortiz, “The Satyricon Lecture,” HIST 4004-001: The Roman Empire (class lecture, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, Fall 2023).