Ancient Fish Sauce in a Modern World
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1558/ppc.28160Keywords:
fish sauce, mediterranean, Colatura di alici, pissalate, Japan, ishiri , condiments, ancient rome, garum, lineage, recipe interpretation, recipe reconstructioin, the Geoponica, liquamen, Archaeology, food storage and transport, amphorae, fish brine, culinary practices, preparations & techniques, residue analysis, trade, piperatum, fermented foods, ancient Greece, product developmentAbstract
This article considers the tradition of making fish sauce in the Mediterranean today and look particularly at those sauces which either claim a link to the ancient past or which we associate with ancient Roman sauces: namely Colatura di alici from the Bay of Naples and pissalate from the south of France, particularly that made in Antibes and Nice. I will also take a look at a Japanese squid viscera sauce called ishiri which has some similarity to the black and bloody ancient garum. I have been researching ancient fish sauces over many years and I am particularly concerned with the precise nature and texture of these products: how they might appear in use in the kitchen and at table; how this might be different from their appearance in transit in amphorae; and, crucially, how they appear in production. This knowledge will allow archaeologists to recognize the residues of the sauces in the archaeological record, which in turn will hopefully allow a greater understanding of the economic system behind their trade.
