The ancient Romans were similar to todays generations in their eating habits but never ate three hearty meals a day. Ientaculum and prandium were merely appetizers that filled their stomachs unitl the large cena, the event they look forward to since awakening. They had names for their meals similar to ours, breakfast (ientaculum), lunch (prandium), and dinner (cena).         Breakfast, ientaculum was usually taken about nine o'clock and consisted of merely a few pieces of bread …showed first 75 words of 1682 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1682 total…while riddles were told, lotteries held, and tricks performed. Roman cooks spent much time and effort cooking for banquets and would even disguise one food as another. Cooks showed their skill by trying to fool the eye by making fish out of a sows belly, chicken out of pork, cakes made to look like boiled eggs, and doves out of ham. The presentation and display of the food was just as important as the taste.