Ketchup my ass!

What the condiment garum teaches us about history

A few years ago, around a hundred brick pits were discovered off the coast of Tunisia that were used to produce garum.

(Bild: Fanfo - stock.adobe.com)

Garum was a Roman food that was produced on a large scale in ancient times. A kind of "ancient ketchup", they say. However, author and natural scientist Christian Mähr believes that this comparison is very misleading.

Garum was not a trivial condiment that you could either pour on your food or not. New archaeological findings were made a few years ago: In the Tunisian city of Nabeul, a hundred brick-built pits were discovered under the mirror of the Mediterranean, but their shape was already known from excavations on land. In ancient times, Nabeul was called "Neapolis", which is ancient Greek and means "new city". There were several cities with this name, the most famous Greek foundation is today's Naples.