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Pompeii’s table gives a taste of ancient Rome



Chef Fabrizio Schenardi prepares a Pompeii’s Table series meal at Ravello at the Four Seasons in November. The dish of fried panzerotti stuffed with ricotta and anchovies uses ingredients only found in ancient Pompeii. (PHOTO COURTESY OF JOSEPH HAYES)

Orlando Science Center’s Pompeii exhibit lets visitors marvel at artifacts that were engulfed in the ashes of Mount Vesuvius nearly 2,000 years ago. Unveiled in late October, “Pompeii: The Immortal City” will be at the Science Center until Jan. 24 and is funded by Orange County’s Arts & Cultural Affairs program.

Witnessing the exhibit and seeing how people lived thousands of years ago may bring up many questions. For food writer Joseph Hayes, the question was “what did they eat back then?”

That’s the prompt of Pompeii’s Table, a series of events where chefs are challenged to create a menu using only the ingredients that were available in ancient Pompeii.

“It’s pretty interesting because, yes, there were things like peppers, eggplants, tomatoes that we think of as quintessential Italian foods that were not available in first-century Italy, because those are new world crops,” Hayes said. “So the challenges on my part were to expose the chefs to what was available.”

Pompeii was a bustling trade city, and ingredients weren’t as sparse as one may think. In fact, Hayes hammers home the point dramatically by unfurling a 16-foot scroll at events, which lists the ingredients that were available to first-century Pompeiians. Hayes said he did months of research, poring through old documents and recipe books that documented food in ancient Pompeii.

As the civilization of Pompeii was interrupted by a volcanic eruption, the restaurant business in 2020 was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. (I know, that comparison was a longshot.) With the Pompeii’s Table series, two of the hardest-hit industries this year — the arts and local restaurants — stand to benefit. Back in March, the main goal of Pompeii’s Table was to attract people to the Orlando Science Center; the outreach events being held at local restaurants was a bonus.

“The purpose of the series has changed, at least for me,” Hayes said. “Because now it allows me to give exposure to restaurants who really need exposure, who need these diners to come in and have a good time and get reacquainted with chefs, so there’s a whole different sociological aspect to it that didn’t exist the first time around.”

After the initial preview event in March, the Pompeii’s Table event returned in November with a dinner at the Four Seasons Resort. In December and January, there will also be events at Redlight Redlight, the Edible Education Experience and Hamilton’s Kitchen.

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