The Jewish Ghetto in Rome
And here we are in Rome! It’s the start of the autumn tours and we are about to eat our way around Italy. When was food ever this exciting? From early morning coffee to market stalls, aperitivo and dinner with gelato on the move, many of my go-to, favourite local trattorie have been booked for the next two months.
The Italians don’t just think their food is the best. They know it is the best. Global recognition has proven it is the best in the world. In December last year, UNESCO officially inscribed Italian cuisine onto the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
And this is what is so impressive. Rather than recognizing a single iconic dish or recipe, UNESCO designated the entirety of Italian culinary tradition as a holistic cultural model - making it the first national cuisine in the world honored as a whole. The Core Values recognised were:
Conviviality & Social Cohesion: Celebrating the table as a space for affection, family, dialogue, and intergenerational transmission of recipes.
Biocultural Diversity & Sustainability: Highlighting respect for seasonal, local ingredients, sustainable farming practices, and historical anti-waste techniques.
Artisanal Knowledge: Protecting traditional food production knowledge - from cheese making and olive oil milling to artisanal gelato crafting.
A cheese shop in Pienza in Tuscany
A BADGE OF HONOUR
Italy has over 300 products certified with the acronym DOP (Denominazione di Origine Protetta - Protected Designation of Origin). This appellation guarantees that every step of production, processing and preparation takes place in a specific geographic region using traditional methods. Some of the more famous DOP products across Italy that you may know include:
Cheeses
Parmigiano Reggiano DOP: “The King of Cheeses”, made from raw cow’s milk and aged for a minimum of 12 months in a strict region of Emilia-Romagna.
Mozzarella di Bufala Campana DOP: Fresh, creamy mozzarella made exclusively from the milk of water buffalo in Campania and parts of Lazio.
Gorgonzola DOP: A classic blue cheese produced in Lombardy and Piedmont.
Pecorino Romano DOP: A hard, salty sheep’s milk cheese essential to classic Roman pasta produced in Sardinia (approximately 95%), Lazio and Grosseto in Tuscany.
Cured meats - Salumi
Prosciutto di Parma DOP: Air-dried cured ham from the province of Parma in Emilia-Romagna, known for its sweet, delicate flavour.
Culatello di Zibello DOP: Considered one of Italy’s most prized salumi, crafted from the heart of the pork thigh in the lowlands along the Po River.
Capocollo di Calabria DOP: Dry-cured pork shoulder seasoned with local Calabrian chilli peppers.
Condiments and Produce
Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena/Reggio Emilia DOP: Traditional balsamic vinegar aged in wood barrels for a minimum of 12 to 25+ years.
Pomodoro San Marzano dell’Agro Sarnese-Nocerino DOP: Sweet, low-acid plum tomatoes grown in the volcanic soil near Mount Vesuvius.
Pistacchio Verde di Bronte DOP: Vibrant green, intensely flavoured pistacchios harvested on the slopes of Mount Etna in Sicily.
Basilico Genovese DOP: Delicate, sweet-scented basil grown in Liguria, essential for authentic Pesto Genovese.
Extra Virgin Olive Oils
Terra di Bari DOP: A rich, robust olive oil from Puglia, the land of 50 million olive trees.
Toscano DOP/Chianti Classico DOP: Peppery and fruity olive oils from Tuscany.
Sabina DOP: Italy’s very first protected olive oil designation, hailing from the Lazio region.
SLOW FOOD
The Slow Food movement started in Bra, Piedmont and is everything fast food isn’t. All about heritage, it has quickly become an international model to promote locally sourced and traditionally produced foods.
Let’s take a step back. The year is 1987. McDonalds has just begun expansion into Italy with the opening of its largest outlet to date in the heart of Rome in the Spanish Piazza. Mamma mia! Enter Carlo Petrini and a few journalists from small town Bra in Piedmont. Determined to stop it, they did more than just join anti fast-food protests. They made a public statement that was published in the culinary magazine Gambero Rosso. It declared that a meal should be judged not by its speed, but by its pleasure. So very Italian.
The organisation they founded became known worldwide as Slow Food. Its mission to reconnect artisanal producers with enthusiastic, educated consumers became bigger than they could ever have imagined.
Every two years there is a global gathering called Terra Madre Salone del Gusto in Turin, Piedmont. Organised by Slow Food, it is the world’s largest event bringing together farmers, chefs, food activists and artisans from over 120 countries to discuss food policy, sustainability and biodiversity. It will take place in Turin this year from 24th to 27th September.
KM0 - Chilometro Zero
This means the food is produced, sold and eaten locally, having travelled 0 kilometres. One of my favourite markets in Rome is Campagna Amica Market tucked away in a building you could easily miss close to Circus Maximus. It is a weekend farmers’ market open Saturday and Sunday from 8:00am to 3:00pm. There are over 60 stalls offering a tantalising array of organic, local products sold directly by producers in the region of Lazio surrounding Rome. Farmers, cheese-makers and artisans proudly sell their produce and offer free tastings. There is a courtyard with food stalls where you can sit and eat which just happens to have a very cool view over a 4th century arch.
Cosa mi consigliate?
‘What do you recommend?’ is a good phrase to learn. Chefs and those who work in the food industry are extremely knowledgeable about what they eat and where it comes from. In Italy, food is more than just pasta. Only when you know where it comes from, how it’s produced and how to best prepare it can you truly understand the art of eating like the Italians.
Ci vediamo la prossima settimana.
Deb