ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the nutritional value and functional properties of cereals, their role in the Roman diet, and their relationship with malnutrition. It aims to assess whether the categorically sombre picture historians commonly paint of the nutritional value of cereals holds if tested against modern biochemical insights. Of all cereal preparations, bread is perhaps the most iconic and culturally most significant as well as the most highly preferred consumption mode, certainly in the wider Mediterranean. Much of the discourse on cereals in Roman diet and agriculture has been delivered using imprecise categories. There are several methods besides studying the written sources to detect the consumption, and sometimes the relative importance, of specific cereal (sub)species within the Roman diet. Cereals can be prepared as numerous final products or consumption modes. While some preparations are fairly simple, most require more substantial processing steps. Without processing, cereal kernels are not well-suited for human consumption.
