{"id":15889,"date":"2019-03-14T21:12:02","date_gmt":"2019-03-14T21:12:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/devourromefoodtours.com\/?p=2488"},"modified":"2025-02-25T09:25:59","modified_gmt":"2025-02-25T09:25:59","slug":"seasonal-eating-rome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/devourtours.com\/blog\/seasonal-eating-rome\/","title":{"rendered":"A Seasonal Guide to Eating in Rome"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/a><\/em>, braised oxtail—are evergreen, but many things you only get in certain periods, or even days. Things you crave, you dream about, and then finally you see them in a bin at the farmers market or on the menu at your local trattoria. The most obvious things to eat seasonal in Rome are fruits and vegetables, which we’ll to below. However, that’s only the outer leaf of the artichoke when it comes to the Roman food calendar. Religious holidays, festivals and days of the week all have special foods and ingredients associated with them. Therefore, we’ve put together this guide to help you eat truly seasonal in Rome, from knowing when to get the best artichokes to proper pastries for Carnival.<\/p>

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Photo Credit: <\/em>Miwok<\/em><\/a>, Text Overlay: <\/em>Devour Rome Food Tours<\/em><\/a><\/p>

1. Fruits and Vegetables<\/h2>

The most iconic Roman vegetable is the artichoke, which can be stewed, fried, or shaved raw for salad. Artichoke season is generally early winter to mid-spring. They’ll first come from other regions of Italy, and then around February, the true carciofo romanesco<\/em> emerges from Ladispoli and Cerveteri just outside of Rome. These ‘chokes are round and as purple as a Roman emperor’s robe. When the weather gets too hot around May, they vanish.<\/p>

Puntarelle<\/em> are even more ephermal. A sort of green chicory, it’s composed of tough outer leaves and tender shoots. The leaves are removed, and what remains gets sliced thin and doused with olive oil, vinegar and a ton of anchovy. You can only find them in the winter, but in the winter they’re everywhere<\/em>.<\/p>

In Italy, May 1st is a national holiday, their version of Labor Day. In Rome, the tradition is to go to the countryside and eat fresh, green fava beans with shavings of sharp sheep’s-milk pecorino romano<\/em>. You’ll also find favas in springtime vignarola<\/em>, a mixed stew of lettuce, artichokes, favas, peas and guanciale<\/em><\/p>

Rome’s best-loved fruit is the fragolina<\/em>, a tiny strawberry. Only found in mid-spring, fragoline<\/em> are a trattoria mainstay in this period, best enjoyed with a light mascarpone cream or just zucchero e limone<\/em> (sugar and fresh lemon juice).<\/p>

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Fresh artichokes at a Roman market. Photo Credit: Tim Sackton<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>

2. Meat and Fish<\/h2>

Romans are not huge seafood eaters. Nor are they as particular about fish seasonality as, say, Venetians, who have certain species which are literally only available a few hours a year. However, shellfish are generally at their plumpest in winter, like tiny flat-shell clams or red shrimp, begging to be served for a traditional Roman Christmas Eve dinner. In the summer, as people flock to the seaside, the taste is more for whole fish like bass, or for a classic treat: fried calamari.<\/p>

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Watch the video to learn about where to find Baccala in Rome.<\/p>