“Thermopolia, where drinks and hot foods were served and stored in large dolia (jars) embedded in the masonry counter, were widespread in the Roman world, where it was typical to consume the prandium (the meal) outside the house. In Pompeii alone there are 80 thermopolia,” explained Dr. Massimo Osanna, interim director general of the Parco Archeologico di Pompei, and colleagues in an official statement. “As well as being another insight into daily life at Pompeii, the possibilities for study of the newly-discovered thermopolium are exceptional, because for the first time an area of this type has been excavated in its entirety, and it has been possible to carry out all the analyses that today’s technology permits.”
Archaeologists conducting excavations at the Thermopolium of Regio V in the Roman city of Pompeii have revealed an ancient ‘fast food’ counter.
Pompeii was a Roman city, located in the modern commune of Pompeii near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area was buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79.
At its peak, Pompeii had a population of around 20,000 inhabitants and became an important passage for goods that arrived by sea to be sent toward Rome or Southern Italy along the nearby Appian Way.