Eating Rome

February 16, 2015
Minchilli’s passion for food and Rome has produced a charming personal culinary itinerary and guidebook. Minchilli is a blogger; the creator of the Eat Rome, Eat Florence, and Eat Venice apps; and a prolific author of books on Italian architecture, design, and food. She takes readers to favorite food haunts for daily dining, shopping, and cooking, seasoned with childhood anecdotes about the city where she now raises her own family. Full of tips and cultural “rules” for consuming coffee or shopping at open-air markets and small alimentari, Minchilli’s 25 how-to essays go to the streets of Rome, where she teaches the proper way of eating pizza, identifying sandwich (panino) styles, selecting gelato, and ordering when dining out. Each essay is accompanied by recipes and includes a list of locales guiding readers to the best in Roman artichokes, pizza bianca, classic pasta dishes, and pastries. Minchilli is biased toward family-run specialty shops in certain neighborhoods, and she reflects on the changing culinary scene with the rise of the Roman brunch and the closing of many traditional spots.

April 1, 2015

Author, blogger, and creator of the app Eat Rome, Minchilli (Italian Rustic) shares recipes and descriptions of the best places to eat and shop for food in the Eternal City. An American, Minchilli first moved to Rome at age 12 and lives there now with her Italian husband; she has spent many years sampling the cuisine of her adopted hometown. Each chapter in this book covers a different topic, from breakfast to vegetables, pasta to pizza, grappa to gelato. She writes about ordering coffee, her favorite restaurants and trattorie and what Italian children eat. She devotes an entire chapter to artichokes and another to pastries. Her experiences in the city flavor her observations of food culture; she tells readers, for example, that in Rome people never eat bread with pasta. Recipes list both English and metric measurements. Some ingredients, such as rabbit, may be hard to find in parts of the United States, but the author sometimes suggests substitutions. VERDICT If planning to dine in Rome or cook like a Roman, this is the book for you.--Janet Clapp, N. Clarendon, VT

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