Even though we’re managing to get in our four squares a day in Rome, we still find ourselves hungry from time to time. (Everybody eats four meals a day, right?) What to do in this stressful situation? Eat a quick bite, Roman-style. (We love the fact that – unlike the Parisians – Romans eat while walking around.) Here are our favourite genres of street food in Rome. Mostly, they’re fried!
Suppli
You might know these as arancini. If you know them at all, you are a lucky duck! They’re fried rice balls, filled with something yummy. Usually the rice is arborio, and usually the filling is mozzarella, sometimes with a bit of tomato sauce. These are a lot better than they sound. And some places up their game, by including little bits of meat or – in one memorable case – squid and squid ink.
Trappezzini
These are a relative newcomer on the scene. They’re little triangles of dough filled with good things. Most traditional is meatballs and tomato sauce; we’re also partial to eggplant, pictured below right. Among other Italian varieties are an excellent chicken cacciatore, a braised greens, and oxtail. And there are non-Italian flavours that rotate through – we loved a Moroccan chicken in zatar!
Taglio
This is nothing more than pizza by the slice. Sometimes also foccacia by the slice. They’re usually fairly small, which is nice as you can then try more than one flavour. We recently reacquainted ourselves with our old friend the zucca flower, but these come in a wide variety. We usually order ’em loaded with vegetables, in a doomed attempt to make up for all the salads we aren’t eating.
Zucca
Speaking of which, zucchini flowers – a Roman spring treat – are sometimes served as street food too, and we can see why: fried morsels of yumminess are an excellent fuel to get you to your next meal.
Carciofi alla Giudia
We’ve already had a lot to say about artichokes, but we wanted to make sure you knew you can also eat them standing up. Sometimes they are really fancy, but this street-food version is pared-down and easy to eat, even without a fork.
And there you have them, our five favourite kinds of street food in Rome. We hope you get the chance to try them all soon!
