WHAT TO EAT IN ROME: The CARBONARA
CARBONARA, ONE OF THE SYMBOLS OF ROME
You cannot visit Rome and not also take a food and wine journey through Roman cuisine, and you certainly cannot come to Rome and not eat at least one Carbonara.
Any self-respecting tourist entering any Roman restaurant and trattoria, even before reading the menu, to the waiter showing him the table, immediately says "Carbonara!", testifying to the great fame the dish now has all over the world.
Although the origins of the dish are uncertain, it is in Lazio and Rome especially that it has become one of its culinary symbols, appreciated and loved by all. It is the queen of pasta dishes and is combined with various types of pasta, in the most classic versions from spaghetti to rigatoni, to the most extreme ones combined with all kinds of different formats.
To the pasta is added the characteristic sauce made from guanciale or bacon, eggs, black pepper and Roman pecorino cheese in classic or revisited versions.
In the classic or precisely modernly revisited version it remains one of the Roman and Italian excellences that the whole world envies us. Eating a good carbonara is not only eating a great dish of pasta, but precisely it is a journey into the flavors of Rome and Lazio, where the ever-present pecorino romano reminds us of the scents of a peasant land.
It is no coincidence that the flavors of carbonara are so representative and symbolic that they have also been translated, by some bolder chefs, into other "dishes" such as supplì made with bucatini alla carbonara, carbonara-flavored lasagna or Gabriele Bonci's carbonara pizza.
LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT CARBONARA
In every corner, neighborhood and street of Rome there is not at least one restaurant, one trattoria that makes its "Carbonara" classic or revisited, but all strictly with the same ingredients.
The recipe in its traditionality and its preparation procedures are a ritual that is repeated daily in Roman kitchens in a succession of colors and smells. before even flavors.
In fact, there are now real "taste trips" to some restaurants in Rome, simply to eat their Carbonara with often long waiting lists. Among the names to remember and worth the trip: "La Carbonara" on Via Panisperna in Monti district, which takes its name from the dish, "Roscioli Salumeria con cucina" on Via dei Giubbonari, "Eggs" on Via Natal del Grande in Trastevere, "Armando al Pantheon" on salita dei Crescenzi, in the Pantheon area, "Luciano cucina italiana" on Piazza del Teatro di Pompeo, a true institution in the field.
Finally, to be mentioned, for those who wish to enjoy a gourmet carbonara, the "carbonara summary" by Michelin-starred chef Riccardo Di Giacinto, who proposes an unusual recipe without pasta, to be eaten by the spoonful directly from the shell of an egg.
Everyone surely puts a piece of themselves into their carbonara, personalizing its essence.
