The ancient Romans loved their birds. They rated owls as omens, valued geese as guards, kept chickens for divination, and raised peafowl for food. As for the thrush, a plumb avian of the passerine family, it was prized for its birdsong as much as a delicacy. Roman scribe Apicius detailed how thrushes were prepared for elaborate feasts, while Pliny and Varro recorded how the birds were farmed and fattened for sale as luxury food items.
But thrushes were not only reserved for elite consumption. According to a new study by Alejandro Valenzuela of the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies in Mallorca, Spain, they were enjoyed by Romans outside the upper echelons, almost as a form of street food.
Ancient Roman mosaic showing a farming practice (2nd century). Photo: Prisma / Universal Images Group via Getty Images.
Valenzuela’s research centers on a cesspit in the city of Pollentia, established after 123 B.C.E. in northern Mallorca. Earlier excavations in the area have uncovered residences, a temple, a theater, and necropolises, as well as a commercial space with a bar counter with embedded amphorae—likely a “popina,” an establishment that sold food and drink. In a 13-foot-deep drain just outside the shop, archaeologists found a heap of trash holding animal bones and ceramics shards dated to between 10 B.C.E. and 30 C.E.
Among the remains were those of fish, pigs, rabbits, and some 165 bones of thrushes—more than that of any bird. Based on the skeletal array, the researcher noted the pit’s contents “represents kitchen waste disposal rather than natural accumulation.”
Site location (A), excavation plan (B), and stratigraphic section of the cesspit in Pollentia (C). Photo: doi.org/10.13039/501100022397.
The thrush remnants, the study said, also displayed a “highly selective pattern,” being made up of mostly skull, sternum, wing, and leg bones, and almost none of the bird’s meaty portions. The bones were also fragmented in a way that has led the researcher, while not ruling out post-disposal breakage, to posit that they were broken as the result of food preparation.
This preparation method “aligns well with the demands of food retail,” Valenzuela wrote. The sternum of the thrush, for instance, was removed to better flatten the breast for rapid cooking. Quite likely, the birds were fried in oil as well, as documented in ancient sources, for maximal efficiency.
Street vendors in Pollentia may also have made the best of the winter migration of thrushes to Mallorca, the study suggested. While elites bred thrushes for year-round consumption—priding themselves on “out-of-season access”—sellers acquired these birds seasonally (possibly through networks of hunters) and incorporated them into their offerings to supplement their income.
Pompeii fresco showing the distribution of bread on a street (1st century). Photo: DEA / L. Pedicini / De Agostini via Getty Images.
While traces of the ancient Romans’ wild bird consumption have turned up in excavations of Liss Villa and Great Holts Farm in the U.K., this latest discovery sheds light on how delicacies like thrushes were not exclusively accessible to the affluent. (It also follows the unearthing of a fast-food restaurant in Pompeii where duck, pig, and goat were on the menu.)
Further research is required to clarify the trade and consumption of thrushes in ancient Rome’s urban communities, Valenzuela noted. But already, his study added: “The evidence from Pollentia suggests that food distribution networks were highly adaptive, incorporating diverse resources that catered to multiple economic strata.”
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