From New York Times bestselling author Katie Parla, Rome offers a sweeping portrait of the city’s food culture, past and present. Drawing on two decades of research, eating, and storytelling in the Italian capital, Parla shows how the Roman table has evolved from the Iron Age to today and why it remains one of the world’s most compelling.
Rome launches with a thorough history through a culinary lens, beginning with its murky Iron Age origins, tracing the impact of conquests through the Roman Republic to the expansion of trade routes during the Empire and a scrappy period through the Middle Ages to ready Rome for its revival into the Renaissance era. Parla covers the political, societal, and economic shifts of the 18th and 19th centuries, from Napoleon to Mussolini and the post-war boom that introduced the “dolce vita” lifestyle, illustrating how people ate through the eras to bring readers into the mindset of present-day Rome.
The book contains over 110 recipes, drawn from experts (home cooks, restaurant pros, and food artisans alike) and is organized with a thematic approach: fried snacks and starters; pasta and soup; fish, meat and offal; vegetables, salads and sides; pizza and breads; and desserts. While the city’s beloved supplì, cacio e pepe, and maritozzi traditions are well represented, Parla finds opportunities to showcase a wider swath of Rome’s dining culture with recipes such as a hearty fettuccine al sugo di coda oxtail pasta and a warming minestra di broccoli e arzilla, or romanesco and broccoli soup.
More than a mere cookbook, Rome contains in-depth features that range from reflections on the fetishization of the cucina povera to the rise of the city’s urban dairy trade. An appendix highlights the forces shaping Rome’s drinking culture, spanning the categories of water, wine, craft beer and cocktails, followed by Parla’s essential recommendations to eating, drinking, and shopping in Rome today. Accompanied by playful illustrations and custom maps by designer Ian Dingman, the stories and ingredients of the Eternal City are brought to life in Rome with expressive photography by Ed Anderson.
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