Everyday foodways and social connections in Pompeian Houses

Eating and drinking practices are central socio-cultural activities, whose distinguishing characteristics provide important insights into social behaviour and cultural identities. The ‘daily routine of food consumption reflects and recreates social and symbolic codes of society’ (van der Veen 2003, 415; see also Bourdieu 1990, 250-2). Age, gender, and status hierarchies surrounding the preparation and consumption of food and drink, and their spatial relationships, are also signposts for socio-spatial organisation at both household and community levels (Delphy 2001). More specifically, eating and drinking are core domestic activities around which household social interactions and household space are often structured. Informed approaches to relationships associated with these activities, their hierarchies and spatial organisation in domestic contexts can assist in developing better understandings of social connectedness and disconnectedness in Roman society. [Taken from introduction]