Baian Seafood Casserole and Oyster Farming in Baiae

Shellfish farming was an industry as far back as the Roman times. The entrepreneur Sergius Orata is credited with being the first to lay out artificial oyster beds in the bay in the first century BC. The ancient Roman cookbook Apicius suggests how the rich prepared their farmed seafood. To prove their wealth, the rich would sometimes eat 100 oysters in a one sitting.