Herculaneum: Where People Ate

 One thing that quickly becomes obvious walking around Herculaneum is that there were numerous food shops around the town. Usually, these consisted of an 'L' shaped counter with several embedded clay jars and a tile or stone countertop.

 The jars were used to store food or to keep foods warm or cool. While some of the larger homes in Herculaneum had ovens, some did not making these food shops practically a necessity.

 Many of these shops were small and therefore must have been used to purchase food and take it away for consumption, in much the same way that fast food restaurants work today.

 Some of the stores were larger and probably had several tables so that food could be consumed on the premises. It is not hard to imagine that Herculaneum felt much like an urban neighborhood in big cities today, with small food shops on the ground floor and especially on street corners, with homes above them and in locations less favorable to businesses.