Meals in the Mediterranean revolved in the last 10 millennia around the common staples of cereals, vegetables, fruit and olive oil – with an occasional bit of fish and meat for those who could afford it. The Greek and Phoenicians spread their food production and cuisine with their colonization and the Romans just further developed this process. Olive oil and wine became the major exports transported from the Mediterranean into Central Europe. Especially Roman cooks developed new technologies for the preservation of food enabling its transport across the empire. Still, most importantly, they introduced new and innovative ways for adding more flavour using spices and produced sauces. We can claim that European history was developed on the dining tables of ancient civilizations.
