A Very Memorable Travel Meal in Rome, Italy

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What Began as a Market Trip Ended as a Memorable Meal in an Italian Home

One of the most memorable travel meals we ever experienced was in Rome, Italy. We didn’t just eat at a restaurant. We purchased fresh vegetables at a local food market, cheeses at a local family-owned deli, and then cooked everything alongside our Italian hostess in her apartment near the Colosseum.

Mercato di Piazza Testaccio for fresh vegetables.

Our experience began at the Mercato di Piazza Testaccio (Testaccio Outdoor Market). The best outdoor market in Rome, it’s frequented more by locals than tourists.

It was bustling with organized activity. Merchants displayed their colorful foods and Italian banter filled the air. Shoppers, armed with large shopping bags, roamed the stalls.

Our hostess led us to our first stop in the market: the Tomato Man’s stall. Never had we seen so many different varieties of tomatoes! The Tomato Man, as we affectionately dubbed him, looked just like an old Italian tomato seller. He had classic Italian facial features and a long black ponytail that followed the movements of his arms as he carefully tended his precious red tomatoes.

The Tomato Man passionately hand-selected three types of tomatoes for us to cook with that afternoon: Roma, Pachino from southern Silicy (similar to cherry tomatoes), and Casilino (a pumpkin-looking specimen). They were destined for a fresh, flavorful tomato sauce.

We also purchased expertly-peeled carciofi (artichokes) for a frittata and broccolo Romanesco (light green cauliflower-like head with spiky florets) for a pasta dish.

Gastronomia E. Volpetti for fresh Italian cheeses and breads.

After an hour of so of roaming the market and drooling over all that resides there, we walked two blocks east to the best family-owned deli in Rome: Volpetti’s.

It’s a cramped, well-stocked shop on Via Marmorata in Testaccio. Our hostess introduced us to the charming, handsome owners, who eagerly offered samples of anything they could get their hands on. Literally.

We tasted everything from fresh ricotta salata on fresh fig bread to the most amazing pecorino Romano cheese we’ve ever had. We paired wines with cheeses and enjoyed tasty sweets. All done in the busy, cramped little shop during business hours. Needless to say, we left with several vacuum-packed packages of cheeses and a bottle of wine to take home.

If you’re ever in Rome, Gastronomia E. Volpettiis well worth your time (don’t worry – there are English-speaking employees). Be sure to try the pecorino Romano cheese. There’s none like it on the face of the planet. The cheese can be shrink-wrapped for the return trip home. Wine can also be carefully packed in checked-luggage, but not shipped.

Cooking in an Italian home near the Colosseum.

From the deli we caught a bus back to our hostess’s apartment near the Colosseum where we cooked with the produce and cheeses we’d just purchased.

The kitchen was surprisingly small with an impossibly smaller stove. We were apprentices in that tiny kitchen, working together as we cut artichokes, broccolo Romanesco, tomatoes & onions.

For our efforts, we were rewarded with an artichoke frittata, pasta con i broccoli (pasta with broccolo Romanesco) and spaghetti with tomato sauce.

Buon Appetito!

At last, it was time to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Not that it was painfully laborious to cook our own meal in an Italian home kitchen in Rome!

The dining table was set with necessary accoutrements, including a local red wine and a local white wine. We were taught proper Italian table etiquette. For example, never use a spoon or knife when eating pasta.

The simplest dish, spaghetti with tomato sauce, was absolutely exceptional! The pasta used was of the artisanal bronze-die variety. Meaning, the pasta is extruded from bronze dies, giving it a rough surface. It is surprisingly different from mass-produced pasta in that it absorbs the sauce better. Hands down, it was the best pasta dish we’ve ever had!

After our Italian feast, we bid a fond farewell to our hostess. The afternoon was spent strolling hand-in-hand around the Colosseum – a great way to end an amazing experience and travel meal.

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