Lonely Planet India - August 2016

TRAVEL FOR VALUE EGYPT

The day job

Elizabeth Minchilli has an enduring love affair with Italian cuisine. She’s lived

in Rome on and off since she was 12 and permanently since 1988 after meeting

her husband Domenico. Having authored six books as well as the Eat Italy app

she continues to share her encyclopaedic knowledge of Italian cuisine through

her blog and for the last five years has also run private food tours. On these

day-long culinary ambles through Roman neighbourhoods she stops at market

stalls delis and artisanal producers revealing where to sample creamy

mozzarella sausages flavoured with truffles the city’s best pizza bianca

and other secrets.

“I love what I do because it gives me a chance to show people my city in a way

that’s not so obvious” she says. “Going to a market or behind the scenes at a butcher

can tell you as much about Rome as a visit to St Peter’s. What people are eating

how they are eating it and why can give you insights into such diverse topics

as history economics cultural and social norms religion and family structure.

“Pick up a vegetable in a market” says Elizabeth “and all of sudden you

are surrounded by different people telling you how you should cook it.

Listen carefully and you come away with not just a recipe but an insight

into a way of life that you might otherwise have missed.”

l http://www.elizabethminchilliinrome.com

“GOING TO A MARKET

CAN TELL YOU AS MUCH

ABOUT ROME AS A VISIT

TO ST PETER’S”

ELIZABETH MINCHILLI FOOD BLOGGER

The day off

In southern Rome rises Monte Testaccio a hill that

in ancient times was a dumping ground for amphorae:

clay vessels used to transport oil and wine. Centuries

later the liquids are still a dining-table fixture in this

working-class district a stronghold of traditional Roman

cooking. Built into the mound itself restaurant Flavio al

Velavevodetto has a glass wall to show the stacked

terracotta fragments. “It’s special to have a meal in this

historic setting but primarily I come for the food”

says Elizabeth. “Flavio the owner has taken humble

Roman cuisine – simple meats and seasonal vegetables –

and elevated it. He’s meticulous about his ingredients.”

Her favourite dish is the tender lamb chops with their

crispy breadcrumb crust. It is made inside Flavio’s

hellishly hot kitchen where half a dozen chefs toss pasta

and stir enormous pots. In the adjacent dining room

businessmen loosen their belts to tuck into steaming

bowls of pasta; the rich oaky smell of pecorino

wafting invitingly.

Nearby is another favourite the covered Testaccio Market

where sunshine leaks in through skylights. Here a stall

is loaded with still-warm flatbreads the size of a small

child while across the aisle peaches spill from their

crates. “This is still very much a neighbourhood market”

Elizabeth says. “You see women in house dresses filling

carts with vegetables and nonnas with their grandchildren.”

Elizabeth says the city’s traditionalism has been part of

its appeal. “For years Rome was charmingly stagnant”

she explains. “But now people are trying new things.”

She cites the recently-opened stall Mordi & Vai where

butcher Sergio Esposito uses 40 years of experience

to select choice cuts for his braised beef paninis. “He’s

turning restaurant dishes into affordable sandwiches.”

Some places are worth going to precisely because

they’ve stayed the same. Sora Margherita in the Jewish

Ghetto began as a no-frills workers’ canteen and still

serves up traditional dishes such as meatballs in tomato

sauce without fanfare. A braided red curtain masks the

entrance and the day’s menu is scrawled on brown paper

in felt-tip. Still by noon customers are elbow-to-elbow

ordering the house special: carciofo alla giudia deep-

fried artichokes that look like golden flowers. “There

were lots of places like this in the ’70s but almost all

turned into something fancier” says Elizabeth who

makes reservations here in the morning in person

so she can watch the pasta being made from scratch

as it has been for years. When the food’s this good

there’s no need to change.

l 00-39-6-474-4194; http://www.ristorantevelavevodetto.it; Via di Monte

Testaccio 97; 12.30pm – 3pm 7.45pm – 11pm; mains from ` 700

l 00-39-33-913-4344; http://www.mordievai.com ; Mercato Testaccio

Via B Franklin 12/ E; 8am – 2.30pm Mon – Sat; paninis from ` 300

l 00-39-65-635-2956; http://www.soramargherita.com; Via del Forno 11;

mains from ` 900

EASY EUROPE ROME

64 July 2016