Jewish/Roman Cuisine

Today, for the second time during this trip, I went to a Jewish/Roman restaurant and had some Kosher Italian food...probably only the third or fourth time in my life that I have eaten Kosher (the other times were in Bayside at Ben's deli in Bay Terrace).

After a strenuous hike up the Avantine Hill - a hill which is not very steep, provided you don't destroy yourself playing soccer and then go out dancing the night before - we took a bus and a tram to the Jewish Ghetto, where we ate lunch at a restaurant I believe called Ba'ghetto (which means "in the Ghetto").

Some new things I've learned today: There are 2 types of Kosher restaurants, either meat or dairy, since the two can't mix. It never occurred to me that you would have to have two entirely separate restaurants for this but well...duh.

I ordered tagliatelle in meat sauce and was heartbroken when I couldn't put any parmigiana on it - but the pasta was done to perfection and the meat was also delicious - cooked long enough to soak up all the sauce, and tender so that I didn't even need to used a knife to cut it, it just fell apart into bite-sized pieces. It made me miss my mom's cooking, since the meat had the same texture as her world-famous beef stews but at the same time it was almost like a little piece of home...found in an incredibly unexpected place.

There were also halal-ish foods like falafel and schwarma...and, my personal favorite, carciofi alla giuda, or Jewish style artichokes, which are fried artichokes...amazing! I had this in conjunction with carciofi alla romana, a more vinegar-y appetizer that was boiled instead of fried. I have come to the conclusion that artichokes are my favorite vegetables.

Jewish/Roman food is an interesting combination and 100% new to me. I don't think I would have tried it except for Leora (our resident Jewish history professor and patient teacher/explainer for someone like me, who knows next to nothing about Judaism) and Leat (my lovely roomie, and also a Kosher-keeper), so it's really fantastic that even in our small group there is so much diversity...a friend of mine was in Rome in January and he told me he got bored of Roman food, even though he was only here for a week. I'm not even close to bored yet, because on top of trying Jewish/Roman food, yesterday I had some sushi, and we found a Chinese place to go to as well, and an Argentine place near Campo di Fiori (soon, soon!).

We also cook our own meals in order to save money. Yesterday I made sausage and peppers (pictures pending) and Leat made white fish in veggies and spicy paprika, and Joann (our Italian culture and language professor) made fried eggplant in red sauce. Tomorrow, we're cooking again! So all around I've just been having a pretty awesome culinary experience.

And I like the simplicity of standard Roman fare - just some salt, olive oil, garlic and onion, nothing to fancy or too big or too heavy, plenty of wine, and a great deal of walking afterward, with fresh fountain water to cool off when you need it. It's a good way to live.