Ancient Romans in need of a quick bite often chowed down on fried songbirds, new research suggests. A researcher working on the island of Mallorca found bones of song thrushes inside a trash pit near the ruins of an ancient fast food joint.
The study, published in May in the International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, suggests that thrushes were commonly sold and consumed in Roman cities. This challenges the long-held belief that these small, speckled birds were a delicacy reserved for elite banquets. What’s more, the findings offer fresh insight into the vibrant street food culture of the Roman Empire.
“Based on local culinary traditions here in Mallorca—where song thrushes (Turdus philomelos) are still occasionally consumed—I can say from personal experience that their flavor is more akin to small game birds like quail than to chicken,” Alejandro Valenzuela, the study’s author and a researcher at the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies in Mallorca, Spain, told Live Science in an email.
Valenzuela analyzed a collection of discarded animal bones discovered in the ancient city of Pollentia, located near the modern town of Alcúdia in northern Mallorca. After the Roman Empire conquered the Balearic Islands—Mallorca and Menorca—in 123 BCE, it strategically built this city on the isthmus between two large bays. At one time, Pollentia was one of the most active Roman ports in the region, according to Valenzuela’s report.
Archaeological excavations of Pollentia’s ruins have uncovered a forum, temples, homes, a theater, cemeteries, and tabernae—small roadside shops that sold goods, drinks, and cheap eats. In the late 1990s, researchers excavated one of these buildings, known as “room Z,” and found a central drain that emptied into a cesspit located on the porch in front of the taberna. This roughly 4-foot-wide (1-meter-wide) 13-foot-deep (4-meter-deep) pit contained ceramic fragments that indicated it was excavated around 10 BCE. as well as materials associated with food waste.
The animal remains inside the pit included multiple species of mammals, fish, and birds that had likely been prepared, cooked, and consumed in or around the taberna. Valenzuela analyzed and taxonomically identified these remains, finding five different species of birds: common cranes, domestic fowl such as chicken, pigeons, thrushes, and other thrush-sized songbirds. Thrushes were most prevalent with 165 identified specimens.
Then, Valenzuela noticed something surprising. The assemblage of remains included numerous skulls, breastbones, and distal bones of the wings and legs, but very few bones from the meatiest parts of birds, such as the upper wing, lower wing, thigh, and upper breast.
The most likely explanation for this is that these bones were discarded by kitchen workers during butchering, Valenzuela explains in the study. The few meatier bones found inside the pit also support this hypothesis, as they showed damage consistent with butchery.
“This evidence suggests that thrushes were widely consumed, forming part of the everyday diet and urban food economy,” Valenzuela writes.
Despite their abundance, ancient Roman literature typically portrays thrushes as a luxury food reserved for the upper echelons of society, according to the study. In Plutarch’s biography of the Roman general Lucullus, for example, he describes the practice of fattening thrushes for elite banquets. Valenzuela’s findings, however, suggest that this dish was not as exclusive as the literature makes it seem. In fact, it seems that these birds were a staple of street food culture in Roman-era Mallorca.
Determining whether this was true in other parts of the Roman Empire will require further research. Valenzuela states that exploring the role of other songbirds in ancient Roman cities could offer insight into how they integrated seasonal resources into their food systems.
“Ultimately, this research highlights the need to move beyond elite-centric narratives and consider the diverse ways in which food practices shaped the lived experiences of ancient urban communities,” Valenzuela concludes.
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