Going Where the Romans Go

Have you ever sat on a plane next to an annoying person who wouldn't stop talking to you? For Michele, an Italian-born businessman from San Francisco, I was that guy! The poor guy was just trying to get home to visit his mom, and after flight delays that stranded him in Quebec the night before, the trip ended up taking him two full days. To add insult to injury, on the flight from Toronto to Rome he was assigned a middle-aisle seat next to me. I was nervous about practicing my Italian, so I may have talked to him excessively during the flight. As it turned out, Michele was quite generous with his time, patience and advice. I tried to write down every recommendation, including - in particular - the places he said locals consider the best to eat.

Close, but far enough from the Rome frequented by tourists, Michele recommended we visit the up-and-coming neighborhood of Testaccio. Located a long-walkable way south of the heart of the Rome you see in postcards, Testaccio was formerly a meat-packing district. Now, the plants are gone, and the vast historic meat market has been modernized and transformed into a museum of modern art. Nearby are a variety of restaurants where the clientele predominantly speak Italian, something that is uncommon in most parts of central Rome. (For my Chicago friends, Testaccio is the West Randolph of Rome.)

Another recent neighborhood improvement is a small, modern partially enclosed marketplace, which contains a variety of stalls hawking fish, meats, vegetables, home ware, and an apparently popular Romanian pepper sandwich. It was just about lunchtime when Fran and I wandered in.

My cousin–like a heat-seeking missile locking on a target –found a small stall selling fresh pasta made on site. The business was operated by a young couple. A gregarious lady stood up front selling the fresh pasta while a quiet gentleman worked the machinery in back. At lunch, they will – upon request – cook up a small batch of pasta ready to eat, serving it in sauce or oil as directed by the customer. We opted for red sauce, which turned out to be a very simple--yet amazingly flavorful tomato sauce. It complimented perfectly the ricotta and spinach filling of the freshly-made ravioli. I wish this photograph would have turned out better, but this five Euro meal in the market turned out to be one of the better meals we enjoyed in Italy (and—believe me—we ate well the whole time in Italy.)

This simple lunch illustrates why the food is so good in Italy. Italians prefer fresh pasta (opposed to dry) with very basic sauces. Meals are usually formed around seasonal produce and complemented with high-quality, fresh cheeses, meats and oils. It’s a philosophy as much as a cooking technique, which I resolved to implement as much as possible once I got home.

A newly iconic building in the Testaccio neighborhood