Roman cuisine

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Roman cuisine consists of the cooking traditions and practices of the Italian city of Rome. It features fresh, seasonal and simply-prepared ingredients from the Roman Campagna. [1] These include peas, globe artichokes and fava beans, shellfish, milk-fed lamb and goat, and cheeses such as pecorino romano and ricotta. [2] Olive oil is used mostly to dress raw vegetables, while strutto (pork lard) and fat from prosciutto are preferred for frying. [1] The most popular sweets in Rome are small individual pastries called pasticcini, gelato and handmade chocolates and candies. [3] Special dishes are often reserved for different days of the week; for example, gnocchi is eaten on Thursdays, baccalà (salted cod) on Fridays and trippa on Saturdays.

Contents

History

Classic Roman carbonara Spaghetti carbonara.jpg
Classic Roman carbonara

Rome's food has evolved through centuries and periods of social, cultural and political changes. Rome became a major gastronomical center during the ancient age. Ancient Roman cuisine was mainly based on cereals, cheeses, legumes and fruit. [4] Subsequently, the empire's enormous expansion exposed Romans to many new, provincial culinary habits and cooking techniques. In the beginning, the differences between social classes were not very great, but disparities developed with the empire's growth. Later, during the Italian Renaissance, Rome became well known as a center of high-cuisine, since some of the best chefs of the time worked for the popes. An example of this could be Bartolomeo Scappi, who was a chef working for Pope Pius IV in the Vatican kitchen, reaching fame with his cookbook Opera dell'arte del cucinare, published in 1570. Here he lists approximately 1,000 recipes of Renaissance cuisine and describes cooking techniques and tools, giving the first known picture of a fork. [5] Roman and all Italian cuisine were transformationally influenced by the introduction of new world crops by the Spanish, especially the tomato.

Traditional cucina romana

The Testaccio rione , Rome's trade and slaughterhouse area, is the place where Rome's most original and traditional foods can still be found. The area was often known as the "belly" or "slaughterhouse" of Rome, and was inhabited by butchers, or vaccinari. [6] The most common or ancient Roman cuisine included the quinto quarto (lit.'fifth quarter'). [6] Popular foods include pig's trotters, brain and the genitals of other animals, [6] which were often carefully cooked and richly spiced with different savouries, spices and herbs. The old-fashioned coda alla vaccinara (oxtail cooked in the way of butchers) [6] is still one of the city's most popular meals and is part of most of Rome's restaurants' menus. Lamb is also a very popular part of Roman cuisine, and is often roasted with spices and herbs. [6] There is a considerable Jewish influence in Roman cuisine, since many Jews lived in the city, and some of the traditional meals of the ghetto date back over 400 years. Such include the carciofi alla giudia [7] (Jewish-style artichokes) and the pizza dolce di Beridde .

Pasta in Rome

Pasta is one important element of Roman cuisine. Famous Roman pasta dishes include cacio e pepe (cheese and black pepper), gricia (a sauce made with guanciale and hard cheese, typically pecorino romano ), carbonara (like gricia but with the addition of egg) and amatriciana (like gricia but with the addition of tomato). Fettuccine Alfredo (invented in Rome by the chef of restaurant Alfredo alla Scrofa) is famous abroad, but not considered traditional and mostly unheard of in Rome.

There used to be a pasta museum in Rome called "Museo Nazionale della Paste Alimentari", [6] but now there is a hotel there. Rome's most common pasta shape is spaghetti, but there are many other forms. [6]

Beverages

The city is known as a center of white wine. Frascati and Roman Castles have been called the best ones in the city. [8]

Desserts

There are also many desserts and sweets in Roman cuisine, many of which are made with ricotta cheese. Typical of Rome is the grattachecca, a type of shaved ice. [6]

Dishes

NameImageDescription
Abbacchio alla romana [9] Abbacchio Pasquale.jpg
Bucatini all'amatriciana [10] Bucatini (amatriciana rossa).jpg
Bruschetta 2014 Bruschetta The Larder Chiang Mai.jpg
Cacio e pepe Grata Italian Eatery - July 2023 - Sarah Stierch 09.jpg
Carbonara Carbonara of Italian Tomato Cafe (1).jpg
Carciofi alla giudia [11] Carciofo alla Giudea.jpg
Carciofi alla romana [11] Carciofiromana.jpg
Coda alla vaccinara Coda alla vaccinara-01.jpg
Coppiettestripes of dried meat (pork or horse), usually spicy
Crostata di ricotta [6] Crostata con Crema di Ricotta.jpg
Fiori di zucca Fiori di zucca in pastella, fritti.jpg zucchini flowers filled with mozzarella and anchovies, battered and deep-fried
Gnocchi alla romana Gnocchi alla romana 1.jpg
Maritozzi Maritozzo con panna.jpg
Pasta alla gricia Pasta alla Gricia.jpg
Penne all'arrabbiata Penne Arrabbiata.jpg
Rigatoni con la pajata [12] Rigatoni con la pajata.jpg
Saltimbocca alla romana [13] Saltimbocca 01.jpg
Scaloppine alla romana Scaloppine al limone.jpg
Supplì Summer 2021 in Catanzaro Lido 12.jpg
Trippa alla romana [14] Trippa Alla Romana.jpg

See also

Commons-logo.svg Media related to Cuisine of Rome at Wikimedia Commons

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References

  1. 1 2 Boni (1930), p. 13
  2. Boni (1930), p. 14
  3. Eats, Serious. "Gina DePalma's Guide To Rome Sweets". sweets.seriouseats.com. Retrieved 14 November 2017.
  4. "Cucina Antica Roma E Ricette Romane" (in Italian). Retrieved 21 October 2021.
  5. Rolland, Jacques (2006). The food encyclopedia. Toronto: Robert Rose. p. 273. ISBN   0-7788-0150-0. OCLC   70176309.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Eyewitness Travel (2006), pg. 312 - 313
  7. https://www.buttalapasta.it/ricette/ricette-carciofi-alla-giudia/23845/
  8. Eyewitness Travel (2006), pg. 314 - 315
  9. "Abbacchio alla romana" (in Italian). Retrieved 8 January 2024.
  10. Boni (1930), p. 44
  11. 1 2 Boni (1930), p. 156
  12. Boni (1930), p. 150
  13. Boni (1930), p. 96
  14. Boni (1930), p. 94

Bibliography