What is Mortadella? A Tale of Counterfeits, Pop Culture & One Delicious Snack

Food vendor slicing mortadella in Bologna, Italy, on a food tour

There are some Italian meats that need almost no introduction (lookin’ at you, prosciutto), but there’s so much more variety available for an antipasto plate in Italy and elsewhere—and not even prosciutto has a backstory that includes both Sofia Loren and a catchy 1970s US television jingle. That colorful tale belongs only to mortadella, the […]

Behind the Bite: Roman Offal

Coda alla Vaccinara is a classic Roman dish of oxtails in tomato sauce with celery

This post is part of our Behind the Bite series: deep dives into the dishes that we can’t stop thinking about. Inside the anatomy chart that is a typical Roman menu. Roman food has a few essential characteristics. It’s simple. The main seasonings are black pepper, pecorino and mint. And every part of the animal can […]

A Seasonal Guide to Eating in Rome

One of our favorite summertime dishes in Italy is fried calamari. Check out the rest in our guide to seasonal eating in Rome.

Eating seasonal in Rome isn’t just about which vegetables are at the market (although there are plenty of those). It’s about festivals, holidays, and even days of the week. One of the great things about eating in Rome is, ironically, the limitations of the season. Certain dishes—cacio e pepe, braised oxtail—are evergreen, but many things you only […]