In the ancient Greco-Roman world, a thermopolium (pl.: thermopolia), from Greek θερμοπώλειον (thermopōlion), i.e. cook-shop,[1] literally "a place where something hot is sold", was a commercial establishment where it was possible to purchase ready-to-eat food. In Latin literature, they are also called popinae, cauponae, hospitia or stabula, but archaeologists refer to them all as thermopolia.[2] They were mainly used by those who did not have their own kitchens, often inhabitants of insulae, and this sometimes led to thermopolia being scorned by the upper class.
