Ancient Romans ate fried chicken
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Ancient Romans loved eating fried chicken.
Scientists have discovered 2,000-year-old remains of songbirds that were deep-fried and eaten by Romans as a convenient snack.
The leftovers were found at a rubbish pit near the ancient ruins of a fast food shop in the Roman city of Pollentia on the Spanish island Mallorca.
The songbirds, a forerunner to today's chicken, are thought to have been flattened on-site and quick-fried for sale to customers.
They were also eaten as a street food by the general population instead of an "elite" delicacy for the rich as previously thought.
Dr. Alejandro Valenzuela, a researcher at the Mediterranean Institute for Advanced Studies, said: "Thrushes were commonly sold and consumed in Roman urban spaces.
"(This challenges) the prevailing notion based on written sources that thrushes were exclusively a luxury food item for elite banquets."
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