The PAST EAT project collaborated with Sapienza University of Rome within the Master’s degree course in Experimental Archaeology, directed by Cristina Lemorini. From this synergy was born Archaeo-MasterChef: a set of outreach and educational activities designed to transform academic research into accessible, engaging, and experiential storytelling centered on ancient food.

This was no ordinary university course.

Titled Food in Antiquity: Culture, Symbol, Ritual, the program invited students on a journey to discover not only what past societies ate, but why they ate it. Food is explored as a cultural language — a bearer of symbols, identities, and rituals — and as a powerful tool for understanding ancient societies through experimental archaeology.

Students selected case studies aligned with their own research interests, tested archaeological methods, and quite literally got their hands in the dough. By recreating ancient recipes and practices, they were able to closely observe techniques, gestures, tools, and flavors rooted in the past.

Through experimentation, observation, and storytelling, Archaeo-MasterChef bridges the gap between academic research and public dissemination, offering a multisensory way to experience archaeology — not only through texts and artifacts, but through action, taste, and practice.

Curious to see what they created?

Below you’ll find the students’ articles, along with short reels documenting their experimental reconstructions on Instagram: @pasteat_archaeofood