A Little Guide to Food in Rome

By Susanna Fischer, 3 May 2022

Italian food varies greatly by region. Rome is in the Lazio region, surrounded by gorgeous countryside called La Campagna Romana, which produces delicious fruits and vegetables. In Trastevere, there is a famous street market in Piazza San Cosimato where fresh produce and flowers have been sold for over a hundred years. This market is only a few minutes’ walk from the Rome Center. It opens early in the mornings, Monday through Saturday. Mornings are the best time to shop here as on some days the market closes by early afternoon.

From ancient times, Romans have loved to dine out at restaurants, and have always done so more than people in many other parts of Italy. But perhaps strangely, Roman cooking is extremely simple. This is counterintuitive in a city with so much grand architecture and so many monuments built by princes and popes. But Roman cuisine is cucina povera, cooking for poor people. It uses very basic and inexpensive ingredients and eschews fuss and grandeur. Perhaps this is the result of the picky tastes of the wealthy, who would only eat certain cuts of meat. People who could not afford luxuries ate the parts of the animals that were thrown out at the slaughterhouses. This affected seasonings. For example, a beef stew called La Garofolata is strongly flavored with cloves to cover up the taste of rotting meat

Some of these traditional poor peoples’ dishes are now served at great expense in exclusive restaurants, mostly to Italian and French diners who are not put off by offal and tripe.

Fortunately, today there are plenty of Roman dishes that do not involve rotting meat! Here are some to try:

Pasta alla carbonare – pasta with a creamy sauce made from guanciale (cured pork jowl, somewhat like American bacon), egg, pecorino cheese, and pepper. This dish may have a special connection to America. The story is that its original creator was an American GI with a taste for eggs and bacon during the Second World War.

Tonarelli cacio e pepe – a simple pasta dish with pasta (typically fresh egg tonarelli noodles), pecorino sheep cheese, and black pepper. Because these ingredients were nonperishable, Lazio shepherds often carried this dish with them into the countryside while they were tending their sheep.

Bucatini all’Amatriciana - This is pasta with tomatoes, guanciale, a little white wine, and pecorino cheese (pictured below).

No worries, vegans and vegetarians! Romans eat a lot of greens. Cicolrio ripassata is a popular somewhat bitter green (chicory) from the dandelion family, served cooked in oil with garlic and chili or al agro (with lemon and olive oil). Other Roman vegetable dishes (generally served as sides or appetizers) are peperonata (pepper stew) and cipollini in agrodolce (sweet and sour onions).

Romans adore street food. There are many places where you can get pizza al taglio (by the slice). It is cut to your order from large rectangular trays. Many toppings are available. Particularly Roman options include squash blossoms and artichokes. Another popular street food is suppli al telefono, fried risotto rice balls with tomato sauce and melted mozzarella inside. When you eat it, the cheese stretches like telephone wires. A famous carryout place in Trastevere, open since 1979, is a great place to get suppli, as well as other many other types of Roman street food. It’s the eponymous Suppli, at via di S. Francesco a Ripa, 137. Carciofi alla giudia is an ancient dish that has been served in Rome’s Jewish Ghetto area for over 500 years. It is flattened deep-fried artichokes (pictured below).

There was a brief outcry in Rome in 2018 when the Chief Rabbinate of Israel declared that carciofi al giudea were not kosher. The Roman Jewish community strongly disagrees. Many restaurants in the Jewish Ghetto area sell this dish; one famous place is Nonna Betta at via del Portico d’Ottavia 16. Trapizzino is a new dish dating from 2009. It is based on the triangular-shaped sandwich called the tramezzino but replaces the bread with pizza dough. Typically Roman fillings include oxtail simmered with tomato and tripe cookied with tomato. You can get trapizzino in Trastevere at Piazza Trilussa 46.

Dessert (dolce):

There are an overwhelming number of options for gelato throughout Rome. Some places to try in Trastevere: Fatamorgana Trastevere at via Roma Libera, 11 (other shops elsewhere in Rome), Gelateria alla scala trastevere near Santa Maria in Trastevere at via della Scala, 51, Fiordiluna at via della Lungaretta 96, and Otaleg at via di S. Cosimato, 14a. Professor Silecchia will have more recommendations. So that you will never find yourself without a gelato fix, here is a guide to great gelato places across Rome! https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/best-gelato-rome/

If you enjoy tiramisu, Tiramisu Trastevere has many varieties and is a short walk from the Rome Center at via di S. Francesco a Ripa, 29.

Coffee and Breakfast

Typically, Romans eat a very quick (5-minutes or so) breakfast of coffee and a pastry while standing at a bar. The standard is a cappuccino or a caffe (espresso with crema – not actual cream but coffee foam) and a cornetto, a sweeter version of a croissant. Cornetti are often filled with jam, custard or the hazelnut-chocolate spread Nutella. You can choose to sit down at a table, but it will cost you a bit more. You will often see two prices on a menu – al banco (at the bar) and al tavalo (at a table). You’ll also have to pay for table service (servicio al tavalo). If you don’t see the price, ask for the listino prezzi, as Italian law requires that bars provide the prices for bar and table. If you choose the bar, don’t linger there long. How to order coffee can differ depending on the bar. In some, you order at the bar, then pay the cashier and get a receipt, then give the receipt to the barista in exchange for your coffee. At others, you order and get your coffee, then pay at the cashier after you drink it. Just watch what others do. If you opt for a table, you will get a bill which you then pay after you finish.

Despite the fact that coffee is not grown in Italy, it as an undisputed center of coffee culture and the place where espresso was invented in the 19th century.

Starbucks has just opened their first shop in Rome, on April 4, 2022, in Castel Romana Designer Outlet about 30 minutes from the city center. But why on earth would you go there while in Italy?

Ancient Roman Food

What did the ancient Romans eat?

Breakfast: Poorer Romans ate bread (sometimes dipped in wine) with cheese or olives, while the upper class enjoyed bread with meat or fish and fresh fruit or vegetables, eaten while lying down and served by slaves (at least during the imperial period; food and meals were a lot simpler during the Republic).

Lunch: Wealthier Romans took a lunch break for about two hours in the middle of the day that often included a nap and relaxing with family and friends. Poor Romans did not get to enjoy such a break. Lunch, for the wealthy, would often include cold meat or fish leftovers from the previous night’s dinner, as well as bread, olives, salad, cheese, fruit, and nuts. Poorer people would have bread and cheese or vegetables or porridge.

Dinner: Wealthy Romans during the empire period would often have lavish dinner parties, separated by gender. They ate lying down on couches, did not have forks and mostly ate with their fingers, or with spoons. Poor people would eat vegetable porridge, or, if they had the means to buy it, fish, bread, olives, cheese and, very rarely, meat.

There is an ancient Roman cookery book attributed to Apicius called De re culinaria (On the subject of cooking). It is not known who Apicius was, if he even existed, or exactly when the book was written (likely the 5th century AD, but it may have been a compilation of earlier recipes). An English translation is available on Amazon.

Buon appetito!