PULS
PULS was a thick gruel or porridge made of spelt (
far, ador): as regards this grain, see
AGRICULTURA Vol. 1. pp. 64
f. We are told that this porridge formed the staple of Roman food in early
times in place of bread (Varro,
L. L. 5.105;
Plin. Nat. 18.83): Pliny adds that for this
reason puls was still used in sacred rites (cf.
Juv.
16.39; Arnob. 2.21). As it was a national dish of the early
Romans, we find
pultiphagus in Plaut.
Mostell. 818, used to describe a Roman, or
“barbarus” (cf. Id.
Poen. prol. 54). It
remained a common food for the poorer class or those who affected homely
fare (
Juv. 14.170;
Mart.
5.78,
13.8;
Ammian. 25.2, 2). This dish of
puls must be distinguished from the later introduction
polenta, which was made of barley-meal (
Plin. Nat. 18.72), and was borrowed from
Greece, “videtur tam puls ignota Graeciae fuisse, quam Italiae
polenta” (Id. ib. § 84). It was, in fact, the Greek
μᾶζα in its more fluid state. The name
polenta has now been transferred to a different
substitute for puls. It is a stiff porridge of Indian meal, and is at the
present
[p. 2.526]time a principal food of the peasants in
North Italy. (Marquardt,
Privatleben, p. 415;
Becker-Göll,
Gallus, 3.313;
Charikles, 2.312.)
[
G.E.M]