Thermopolium

Instead, Pompeians ate out.

Over 80 Thermopolia hot food counters have been found in the excavated portions of the city.

And they were everywhere.

On main streets, on side streets, clustered around the Forum, tucked into residential neighborhoods.

Wine, bread, cheese, a side dish, like a running tab scratched into the plaster with a stylus.

Another shows what appears to be a menu with prices listed in asses.

the smallest unit of roman currency the prices were modest a cup of wine cost about one as a plate of stew cost a few more for a working person in pompeii eating at a thermopolium was not an indulgence it was a necessity the cheapest and most practical way to eat a hot meal when your apartment had no kitchen and no running water and the Thermopolia were designed accordingly.

They were fast, they were simple, and they were everywhere.