Cumin Roasted Chickpeas – VeganMoFo Day 2

Are you a fricti ciceris emptor? Sorry, what now? For today’s VeganMoFo, we’re taking a long leap back in time to visit Horace in the 1st Century BC, and find out what exactly he meant by this (and why he was perhaps so very wrong).

A fricti ciceris emptor was a buyer of roasted (or toasted) chickpeas. Horace, in his Ars Poetica, descripes chickpea eaters as paupers, and uses them in an illustration as people who crude drama appeals to, rather than the more desired wealthy audience.

Chickpeas were not an uncommon food in Roman times, and in the Apicius collection of recipes (compiled a few hundred years after Horace, but still in Roman times) several recipes using legumes and nuts, including chickpeas, are published. So for today’s historical prompt, I decided I would join the plebeians and make a Roman inspired snack.

Cumin was a very popular spice in Roman times – it’s actually a very ancient spice, and is even mentioned in the Bible! So pairing chickpeas with cumin for this recipe seemed a good idea. Perhaps you could buy something like this before going to watch sports in Rome – who knows? These are certainly very more-ish, you won’t be able to resist snacking on them! I used some as croutons on top of soup, too – the recipe will be coming later to the blog!

Cumin Roasted Chickpeas

• Servings: 2
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Ingredients

• 1 tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1.5 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp olive oil

Directions

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F
1. Begin by placing all the ingredients in a large bowl, and mixing thoroughly till all the chickpeas are coated.
2. Tip the coated chickpeas onto a baking tray, and place in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, until crisp, stirring halfway.
3. That’s it! They’re done!