Use this activity to prepare students for “The Cooking Class" activity that you will guide them through on your class visit to the Getty Villa.

Materials
Download the following items from the activity page on the Getty Web site: http://www.getty.edu/education/teachers/trippack/villa_cooking.html

• Slideshow: Architecture and Gardens at the Getty Villa (focus on slides 9, 24-49)
• Map of the Getty Villa
• (optional) Ancient Roman recipes, found in a cookbook by Apicius, De re coquinaria, available on the University of Chicago's Web site: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Apicius/home.html
• Images of the following works of art, which students will see at the Getty Villa:

-	Wall Fragment with a Scene of Meal Preparation, Roman, A.D. 50–75
http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=9887
-	Plate with a Fisherman, Eastern Mediterranean, A.D. 500–600
http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=12551
-	Relief with a Heroic Banquet, Greek, 150–100 B.C.
http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=35538
-	Wine Cup with a Fishmonger, Greek, about 525–500 B.C.
http://www.getty.edu/art/gettyguide/artObjectDetails?artobj=35466

Activity Steps
Use slides 9 and 24-49 of the Architecture and Gardens at the Getty Villa slideshow to introduce students to the herbs they will see in the Herb Garden at the Getty Villa.

Step 1
Explain to your students that during their visit to the Getty Villa, they will be working on a self-guided lesson called “The Cooking Class.” Today, they will learn about the use of herbs in ancient cooking. When they visit the Villa they will go to the Herb Garden to find herbs for an ancient recipe, and look at images of ancient food preparation and eating inside the Museum.

Step 2
Show students an image of the Wall Fragment with a Scene of Meal Preparation from the Getty collection. Ask students what is happening in the scene. What are the people preparing? What tools are they using? Provide some information about the fresco: The men depicted are slaves in the process of gutting a small animal (probably a fawn). At the left side of this fresco, a metal tray resting on a pedestal holds a selection of ingredients, including piles of spices and a bulb of garlic. 

A villa was like a small community, with slaves to tend the gardens and cook in the kitchens. Show students a model of an ancient Roman villa (slide 6 in the slideshow) and ask the students where they think the food was prepared, and where meals would have be served and eaten.

Step 3
Use slides 46 and 47 in the Architecture and Gardens at the Getty Villa slideshow to show students images of herbs they will see in the Getty Villa gardens. Help students identify the herbs, learn their names, and describe their characteristics. 

Step 4
Ask students why they think herbs would have been used in ancient recipes. Can they give examples of herbs used in recipes today? Why do they think we still use herbs in our cooking.  

(optional)
If you want to explore this subject further, find a recipe from the cookbook by Apicius (link to a Web site is under Materials, above). Compare an ancient recipe to a similar modern recipe. Based on the recipes, have students reflect upon similarities and differences in ancient and modern taste and lifestyle. For this discussion, you could choose ancient recipes that use ingredients that would be considered strange today, such as dolphin or peacock.