I don't know about the 'meticulous accounts' bit. Like all of history, large portions of Roman history fall outside of the ancient historians' purview, or are lost, or conflicting, or very scarce, especially in the 2nd-3rd centuries.

I always feel it's cheating when they just add gold and jewels to these sorts of extravagantly priced foods. It doesn't contribute anything to the taste or fit in with the type of food. One of the famous most-expensive-drinks had a diamond bracelet in the glass. Why not just encrust your sandwich with sapphires or stick a big sheet of platinum in the middle of the cake?

Hax.