Popular Foods to try in Rome

Navya Upadhyay
3 min readApr 15, 2021

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The concept of Roman street food is not new. In recent decades, pizza made by slice joints and vendors has punctured through the walls of the city. But in recent years, the number of street foods in Rome that sell economical snacks advertised as “street food,” “Cibo di Strada,” has captured all the sparkle of the city. There is a great deal of fine street food that travelers love to take with them while taking various on-site tours of Roman archeological sites. Therefore, in the city’s various street connections, consumption and innovation flourish every day in Rome. For various economic reasons, food trucks are not common in Rome. But still, if you want to try the best street food in Rome, follow the list below on what to eat in Rome:

1. Porchetta

Porchetta is a very traditional dish that has been made in different municipalities in Rome for a very long time. The towns of Ariccia and Marino, southeast of Rome, are popular for their Porchetta. This dish is basically a boned, rolled, and fried pork Italian dish. Properly prepared, this knitted pork is cooked properly at low temperatures to maintain moisture and maximize flavor. You can eat this street food in Rome, at any meat joint. Unfortunately, the production of industrial porchetta dominates Rome today, and few historical sites remain committed to quality. But some shops in town still sell fine-quality, sliced, salty porchetta.

2. Polpette di Bollito

Polpette di Bollito is a disc of braised beef. Patties are the best street food in Rome, shaped, breaded, and baked. The snack is for home cooks and restaurants to use leftover meat leftovers, which are tied with eggs and breadcrumbs. Today, the Polpette di Bollito has disappeared from Roman menus but was still served on trattorias such as Cesare al Casaletto, Terre e Domus and Flavio al Velavevodetto. The best Polpette is sold for € 2 each at Sergio Esposito, a former butcher, at his restaurant on the Testaccio market.

3. Pizza al Taglio

In Italy, pizza comes in an infinite variety of forms. The dough is placed in rectangular iron pots, poured, and baked. The slices are then reheated and sold by weight. It is designed to be a cheap snack, so in order to reduce prices, most places save on certain ingredients. There is a small street food place in Rome, but more and more places where there is a balance between quality and profit, these fine joints make up the business.

4. Supplì

Locals say fried rice balls were introduced during the reign of the French, Napoleon. Regardless of its origin, this elongated croquette is one of the best dishes on Roman streets. Not to be confused with spherical arancini. The Roman supplì contains flavored rice wrapped around a small mozzarella that melts when the whole is fried. Classic rice aromas with meat sauce or minced pork hoarfrost, but the slices recently made in slice shops offered various screws, and even the rice was sometimes replaced by pasta.

5. Pizza Co ‘La Mortaza

Pizza co ‘la Mortaza is a Bologna sandwich and is one of the classic Roman snacks. Pizza Bianca, which is a local pie, is sliced and stuffed with some thin slices of mortadella. A sandwich is the best street food in Rome, especially if this pizza-cum-sandwich is straight from the oven and the mortadella melts into the steaming bread. With the smoky, cheesy aroma of freshly baked Pizza co ‘la Mortaza, you can immediately start to get rich.

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Navya Upadhyay

I am travel writer and I love to share my journey experinces through my articles.