Translated from french with Deepl (please notify us of errors)
Giraffe necks, elephant trunks, flamingo tongues… Tales of the culinary extravagances of the Romans have long fed the collective imagination. Pure invention? While the consumption of the first two ingredients finds no support in ancient sources, that of flamingo tongues, on the other hand, is well and truly documented.
In one of his epigrams, the poet Martial imitates the style of funerary inscriptions by giving a voice to a person who is deprived of one:
“My ruddy wing gives me a name, but my tongue is a treat to epicures. What if my tongue were to tell tales?”[1]
Here, the bird uses its Latin name, phoenicopterus, derived from the Greek, which literally means “red wings”[2]. With his characteristic satirical wit, Martial suggests that, if the flamingo could speak, it would be to denounce the vanity of those who feast on its tongue.
An exotic luxury
In ancient times, as today, food was appreciated for its gustatory and nutritional qualities. But the Roman elite also sought originality and exoticism, to assert their social class and impress their guests.
Although pink flamingos were present in Europe, they were much more abundant in Africa. Their exotic origins made them a luxury product in the Roman Empire, especially as many birds had to be sacrificed to make a dish of tongues.
Pliny the Elder, in a chapter of his Natural History devoted to birds, also mentions the fate reserved for the wader:
“Apicius, the greatest glutton among all the debauchees, taught that the tongue of the pink flamingo is particularly tasty.” [3]
It should be pointed out here that the flamingo’s tongue is a special organ. It pumps water back and forth up to five times a second. This mechanism enables it to retain food, in particular the small shrimps that give its plumage its pink hue. It is particularly muscular and covered with strong hairs that help to filter the water. In short, not very appetising by modern standards…
Boiled or roasted?
As for the collection of Roman recipes that has come down to us under the name of Apicius, it contains no specific preparation for the tongue, but suggests two recipes for cooking the whole bird, one boiled, the other roasted. After all, it would be a complete waste to eat only the tongue.
So here, in full for the reader’s enjoyment, is how the most famous of ancient cooks prepares the bird:
“You pluck the pink flamingo, wash it, prepare it, put it in a pot, add water, salt, dill and a little vinegar. Halfway through cooking, add a bunch of leeks and coriander to cook with. Just before the end of the cooking time, add some reduced must to colour the dish. Grind some pepper, cumin, coriander, laser root, mint and rue in a mortar. Sprinkle with vinegar, add a date paste and pour the juice over the flamingo. Then return the mixture to the pot, thicken with starch, pour over the sauce again and serve. The same method can be applied to the parrot”.[4]
Now it’s the turn of the roasted variant:
“You roast the bird. In a mortar and pestle, crush pepper, lovage, celery seeds, toasted sesame seeds, parsley, mint, dried onion and date paste. You mix this preparation with honey, wine, garum, vinegar, oil and reduced must.”[5]
Both recipes are very strong, no doubt to accommodate a meat with a strong flavour of its own. The sauces are sweet and sour, according to the usual Roman preference. The pink flamingo, with its lean muscles adapted to long-distance flight, could have offered a gamey flavour, enhanced by a taste of fish, due to its diet. Finally, its flesh must have been naturally salty, as the bird feeds mainly in salt water.
Would you like to know if it tasted good? Not a chance. The pink flamingo is now a protected species.
[1] Martial, Epigrams, 13, 71: Dat mihi pinna rubens nomen, sed lingua gulosis nostra sapit. Quid si garrula lingua foret?
[2] Ancient Greek φοινικόπτερος, from φοίνικος (phoinikos), ‘red’, and πτερόν (pteron), ‘wing’.
[3] Pliny, Natural History, 10, 68: Phoenicopteri linguam praecipui saporis esse Apicius docuit, nepotum omnium altissimus gurges.
[4] Apicius, De re coquinaria, 6, 6, 1: Phoenicopterum eliberas, lavas, ornas, includis in caccabum, adicies aquam, salem, anethum et aceti modicum. dimidia coctura alligas fasciculum porri et coriandri, ut coquatur. prope cocturam defritum mittis, coloras. adicies in mortarium piper, cuminum, coriandrum, laseris radicem, mentam, rutam, fricabis, suffundis acetum, adicies caryotam, ius de suo sibi perfundis. reexinanies in eundem caccabum, amulo obligas, ius perfundis et inferes. idem facies et in psittaco.
[5] Apicius, De re coquinaria, 6, 6, 2: Aliter: assas avem, teres piper, ligusticum, apii semen, sesamum frictum, petroselinum, mentam, cepam siccam, caryotam. melle, vino, liquamine, aceto, oleo et defrito temperabis.
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