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''Apicius'', also known as ''De re culinaria'' or ''De re coquinaria'' (''On the Subject of Cooking'') is a collection of Roman cookery recipes. It is thought to have been compiled in the fifth century AD. Its language is in many ways closer to Vulgar than to Classical Latin, with later recipes using Vulgar Latin (such as ''ficatum'', ''bullire'') added to earlier recipes using Classical Latin (such as ''iecur'', ''fervere'').

The book has been attributed to an otherwise unknown Caelius Apicius, an invention based on the fact that one of the two manuscripts is headed with the words "API CAE" or rather because a few recipes are attributed to Apicius in the text: Patinam Apicianam sic facies (IV, 14) Ofellas Apicianas (VII, 2). It has also been attributed to Marcus Gavius Apicius, a Roman gourmet who lived sometime in the 1st century AD during the reign of Tiberius. The book also may have been authored by a number of different Roman cooks from the first century AD. Based on textual analysis, the food scholar Bruno Laurioux believes that the surviving version only dates from the fifth century (that is, the end of the Roman Empire): "The history of ''De Re Coquinaria'' indeed belongs then to the Middle Ages".

Organization

The Latin text is organized in ten books with Greek titles, in an arrangement similar to that of a modern cookbook:
# ''Epimeles'' — The Careful Housekeeper
# ''Sarcoptes'' — The Meat Mincer, Ground-beef
# ''Cepuros'' — The Gardener, Vegetables
# ''Pandecter'' — Many Ingredients
# ''Ospreon'' — Pulse, Legumes
# ''Aeropetes'' — Birds, Poultry
# ''Polyteles'' — The Gourmet
# ''Tetrapus'' — The Quadruped, Four-legged animals
# ''Thalassa'' — The Sea, Sea-food
# ''Halieus'' — The Fisherman

Foods

The foods described in the book are useful for reconstructing the dietary habits of the ancient world around the Mediterranean Basin. But the recipes are geared for the wealthiest classes, and a few contain what were exotic ingredients at that time (e.g., flamingo). A sample recipe from Apicius (8.6.2–3) follows:
* Aliter haedinam sive agninam excaldatam: mittes in caccabum copadia. cepam, coriandrum minutatim succides, teres piper, ligusticum, cuminum, liquamen, oleum, vinum. coques, exinanies in patina, amulo obligas. liter haedinam sive agninam excaldatam a crudo trituram mortario accipere debet, caprina autem cum coquitur accipit trituram.
* Hot kid or lamb stew. Put the pieces of meat into a pan. Finely chop an onion and coriander, pound pepper, lovage, cumin