I've become quite taken with Roman supermarkets. Unlike their suburban counterparts which sprawl across strip malls and are hubs of family activity, Roman markets are models of efficiency and design. Automatic doors open up to envelop you into a sleek, narrow world with row upon row of pastas, olive oils, and jars of delectables. Around the corner you can find the deli and prepared foods counter. It's impossible to resist the cheeses, roasted peppers and salume you see displayed beautifully in the cases. I try to be sensible as I pick and choose my purchases. After all, it's not as though I'm actually going to cook anything. I haven't cooked a thing since I arrived, unless you count making coffee and toasting bread cooking. I live in an area where the streets are clogged with restaurants, bars and pizzerias, and eating out is part of my daily entertainment. One British reviewer said of Trastevere, "We are spoilt for choice" and I like it like that!
I pass through the Campo dei Fiori (literally, Field of Flowers, but actually an outdoor market) on my way to and from school everyday. Here, too, I find it impossilbe not to slow down to take in the sights, sounds and aromas in that piazza. The vendors' carts are loaded with flowers and vegetables of every kind and color.And the fruit! The fruit alone is worth the walk. Today I bought peaches and melons that are literally bursting with flavor. They remind me of the way fruit used to taste, or maybe I'm just imagining that I ate fruit like this before. I also bought something I was afraid were already out of season - fragolini, the tiny, thin, sweet strawberries from the hills outside of Rome. Delizioso! I can't wait to "cook" my fruit with my cereal tomorrow morning!
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Rome is vast, and outside the centro storico there are outdoor markets ('mercatini') in practically every quartiere; they spring up, rather miraculously, from nothing once or twice a week and offer the full range of edibles, though some of the large ones (like the one adjacent to S. Giovanni in Laterano) is heavy on the cheap wearables, which are bought by natives and tourists alike. I've bought very inexpensive leather belts from such stalls for nearly two decades, and if they last more than a year I'm overjoyed. Happily, the weekly local market is not unique to Italian cities: here in Philly there are several summer neighborhood produce markets that I know of, including the one at Morris Park (43rd & Baltimore, Thursdays only), just across from my work.
Janet, how about sharing some of your observations on all that male beauty you must be imbibing daily?
xoxo
M & C
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