Sally Grainger

Sally Grainger
At the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery in 2012
Education	Royal Holloway University of London
Occupation	Food historian

Sally Grainger is an English food historian specialising in Roman recipes. ^{[1] [2]}

Early life and education

Grainger left school aged 16 with no O-levels, and worked as a pastry chef. She later gained four O-levels and two A-levels, including ancient history, at evening classes, and at the age of 30 started to study for a degree in ancient history at Royal Holloway University of London. There, at a toga party for which she had created food using Roman recipes, she met historian Andrew Dalby who suggested that they co-author a book. ^[2]

Career in food history

Grainger has worked with museums and television companies as an expert on Roman food, appearing on shows including Time Team and Neil Oliver's A History of Ancient Britain. ^{[3] [4]} She has a particular research interest in the Roman fish sauce garum, and studied for an MA at the University of Reading where her dissertation topic was "Roman fish sauce: an experiment in archaeology". ^[1]

Grainger published The Classical Cookbook, coauthored with Andrew Dalby, in 1996; a revised edition was published in 2012. ^[5] Together with her husband Christopher Grocock she published a translation and critical edition of Apulius' Roman cookbook in 2006.

Selected publications

• Dalby, Andrew; Grainger, Sally (2012). The Classical Cookbook (2nd ed.). British Museum Press. ISBN   978-0714122755. (1st ed published 1996 by J Paul Getty Museum Pubns)
• Grocock, C. W.; Grainger, Sally (2006). Apicius: a critical edition with an introduction and an English translation of the Latin recipe text Apicius. Prospect. ISBN   978-1903018132.
• Grainger, Sally (2015). Cooking Apicius: Roman Recipes for Today. Prospect Books. ISBN   978-1903018446.
• Grainger, Sally (2021). The story of garum: fermented fish sauce and salted fish in the ancient world. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group. ISBN   978-0367683122.
• Grainger, Sally (2024). Roman Recipes for Modern Cooks. Apartamento. ISBN   978-8409656806.

References

1. Dalby, Andrew (26 June 2016). "Symposiasts at Work: Sally Grainger". Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery. Archived from the original on 18 November 2025. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
2. Benitez-James, Layla (6 June 2025). "Interview with Sally Grainger". Apartamento Magazine. Retrieved 30 November 2025.
3. "Cookery through the ages". Current Archaeology. 23 July 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2025.
4. "Celtic History Books for Children". resourcesforhistory.com. Retrieved 1 December 2025. Sally often performs cooking demonstrations at the Roman Legionary Museum
5. Colakis, Marianthe (1 January 2014). "The Classical Cookbook, revised edition [review]" (PDF). The Classical Journal. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 December 2024. Retrieved 30 November 2025.

External links

• Sally Grainger at Academia.edu
• Sally Grainger at IMDb