The Forum

What About Garum?

I have greatly enjoyed your Odyssey since the first issue. The articles are always fresh and innovative—truly a pleasure to read. One small favor: For years I have noted references to garum, the savory fish sauce that seems to have been universally enjoyed in the Roman world. Would you please consider publishing an article on ancient garum?

Garum was made by salting the entrails of fish and then straining off the liquid. From this basic fish sauce, compounds were made with wine and spices, with water, and with vinegar. Although garum became very popular throughout the Roman Empire, it apparently traces back to the Greeks of the fourth century B.C. (See Don Brothwell and Patricia Brothwell, Food in Antiquity: A Survey of the Diet of Early Peoples [Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1969].)—Ed.