Rome Italy , Food lifestyle spectacular!

Ok, we’ve been in Rome for four nights and Kate one of our daughters joined us here three days ago! I’ve been trying to decipher in my mind how to blog Rome when there’s so much to do and see. So I’ve decided to have a separate blog for the food in Rome, it’s that good.

Many, many city’s across the world are known for their food scenes, however Rome is truly a gastronomical delight for us. I cook most of the food we eat on this adventure, but Cindy and I agreed, and budgeted, to enjoy the food and food lifestyle of Rome.

So, here we go with my overview of the great Roman food scene.

Bars

Every neighborhood, city, town and village have what they call bars everywhere, they are very interesting spots.

They are really neighborhood coffee shops and cafes. They are open early in the morning and sell coffee drinks and light bakery items, baked crumb cake and croissants are favorites.

Italians love coffee and drink it all day. At lunch they offer light food items and coffee. During the afternoon they offer coffee and snacks, cookies are very popular. In the evening, they offer coffee and flavored liquors. Italians will spend hours chitchatting in bars, it’s their hangout. The bars in Italy are where Howard Schultz came up with the idea for Starbucks. It’s what he calls the third place, Work, home and the coffee shop/bar. We enjoyed the coffee in many a bar.

Pasta. Italians eat pasta at lunch and dinner almost everyday. The selection of dried and fresh pasta and tomato sauce is huge in every store. Our Airbnb host says he keeps 20 pounds of dried pasta on hand, he never wants to run out.

Pizza, we love pizza and I make them at home regularly. I think I make a pretty mean pie. In Italy, pizza is king. They make three types, Thin crust, that’s Roman style

Napoli style, that’s with a little air in the slightly pillowy crust.

And foccacia style, which is proofed 12-24 hours on a sheet pan, then baked until half done. They then top it with assorted toppings and baked until done. Fresh ingredients are added after baking in some cases.

Pizza shops in the neighborhood are very important and a social hotspot. Some also sell other food, including chicken and panini sandwich’s. We visited way too many.

Gelato is a staple in Italian life. There’s a shop on every corner in every city. It’s not just for tourists, Italians believe it helps your digestive system to eat a little gelato. Who am I to argue.

Vino, Italians love to drink vino, and it’s very inexpensive in Italy, €5 buys a good bottle. Most Italian wines are blends to be drank with food. Italians don’t usually sit around and drink just wine, they have food with there vino. We did our best to help the economy.

Great, great food scene here in Italy and Rome, we love it

Ciao! Ciao🍷