Bread was an important part of the diet of Romans from all social classes. The satirist Juvenal sarcastically commented that the citizens were happy as long as they had access to 'bread and circuses'.

About thirty-five bakeries have been found in Pompeii, easily identifiable because of their large brick ovens. Wood was stored in the space underneath, and then used to light a fire inside the oven. The bread was then packed in around the fire to bake it. The baker would use a long paddle to put the bread in, very much like a modern pizza oven. Demand must have been high – one oven has been found that contained more than eighty loaves at the time of the eruption! Once the bread was baked it would be sent to the various shops and stalls where it was sold, some bakeries had their own area for selling their bread, but most did not.

Bakeries had their own mills for grinding corn into flour, usually three or four of them set in a paved courtyard. These were made up of two stones. An inner stone which is part of the base, is shaped like an upside-down V, and stays still. The outer stone is shaped like an hour glass. Horses or donkeys could be used to turn the heavy outer stone round and round so that it grinds the grain against the inside stone. Flour came out the bottom of the mill.

Examples of real Pompeian bread were carbonised in the eruption and can be seen today. They are very distinctive, with eight cuts across the top making them easy to tear apart. We see this distinctive shape in pictures of bakeries and bread as well. Loaves have also been found with stamps on them. These are sometimes the stamp showing which bakery made them, but some are the marks of other people. Pompeians did not all have ovens or stoves in their houses, and would take their food to their local bakery to be baked or heated in the ovens for a small fee.