The Cuisine of Rome and Lazio

Traditional cooking in Lazio reflects the simple, sustaining meals of shepherds and farmers. It’s no surprise that tender, milk-fed lamb is a favourite dish, usually roasted and served with seasonal vegetables. The cuisine is a savoury tapestry, incorporating the farming traditions of the region with an amalgam of ingredients from outlying areas, including Umbria. The vegetables found in the markets are of exceptional quality, perhaps because of the sun-drenched volcanic soil of the region.

Fish is an integral part of Roman cuisine, and features most frequently in Rome as salt cod - baccalà. Offal is also key, and although it has been ousted from many of the more refined city-centre restaurants, it still appears on the menus of more traditional eateries, especially those in the Testaccio area. More conventional meat dishes include abbacchio (milk-fed lamb roasted to melting tenderness with rosemary, sage and garlic), scottadito (grilled or broiled lamb chops eaten with the fingers) and saltimbocca alla Romana (thin slices of veal cooked with a slice of prosciutto, mozzarella cheese and sage on top). Artichokes are the quintessential Roman vegetable, served alla Romana (stuffed with garlic and mint) and in all their unadulterated glory, alla Giudia (flattened and fried in olive oil, Jewish-style).