"Rome by a roman" a Rome Travel Page by trilbi

I live in Rome so it's very difficult for me to have a detached view of this city. The climate is very mild and you can have warm days even in December so that it may be possible to have lunch sitting outside a café (always called bar by the Romans). On the contrary, in summer, even the hottest day cools down in the evening. The breeze coming from the near sea, the ponentino, blows very pleasantly and if you are eating an ice cream, a grattachecca (ground ice flavoured with fruit syrup) or a slice of cocomero (watermelon) you'll feel in heaven!
I have been thinking about what could be of interest and hasn't already been said: almost nothing! I then decided that I'll introduce you to....

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a very interesting booklet

Roman Cuisine

Roman traditional dishes are made of simple ingredients, and the meat used is the "quinto quarto" which literally means fifth quarter. It consists of the less valuable parts of the cow (intestines, stomach, tail) which were given for free to the workers of the slaughterhouse in Testaccio. They had them cooked in the nearby trattorie in various ways. It's not that easy now to find well done roman cuisine, and to be honest, I am not particularly keen on it, even if I think that some dishes have to be preserved for cultural reasons. These include rigatoni con la pajata (at high risk of disappearing because veal pajata cannot be sold anymore due to the mad cow disease) and animelle con i carciofi. In Rome there is also a strong Jewish influence, and some dishes like the wonderful carciofo alla giudia or the aliciotti con l'indivia are now considered traditionally roman.
Here is a list of some typical roman dishes so that you can recognize them on the menu:

Minestra di pasta e broccoli con arzilla a soup made with skate broth, roman broccoli (a green variety of cawliflower) and pasta
Bucatini all'amatriciana big hollow spaghetti with guanciale (cured but not smoked pork jowl), tomatoes and pecorino cheese (no onion!)
Rigatoni alla Gricia often referred to as white Amatriciana: guanciale, pecorino cheese and pepper
Rigatoni con la pajata pasta with loops of veal (now with lamb) intestines still full of milk slowly cooked in tomato sauce (I know it sounds yucky but it's really good)
Puntarelle con le alici a salad made with strips of chicory catalogna sprouts, dressed with an anchovy, garlic, oil and vinegar sauce
Aliciotti con l'indivia a baked flan of anchovies and endive
Broccoletti ripassati in padella braised bitter broccoli rape (in other italian regions they are called "cime di rapa")
Vignarola a seasonal dish you can find in spring when the first tender fava beans are available. It consists of braised fava beans, artichokes and peas
Carciofo alla romana roman artichoke stewed whole with garlic and mentuccia (a type of mint)
Carciofo alla giudia roman artichoke fried twice to assume the shape of a big open flower
Abbacchio alla cacciatora milk fed lamb roasted with garlic, rosemary and sage
Coda alla vaccinara oxtail slowly braised with tomatoes, celery, carrots and onions
Coratella d'abbacchio con carciofi lamb's internal organs (should I specify?), braised with artichokes
Animelle con i carciofi sauteed lamb sweetbreads with artichokes%

OK, it's enough for now, there are few things I have to add like:

-desperately seeking a good pizza (that seems to be disappeared from Rome)

-street food like supplì al telefono (not really proper street food but the kind of snack you can buy in a rosticceria and eat in the street if you want)

-what's broccoletti, roman artichoke and green cawliflower called broccoli by us?