Ricotta cake. Pasta and chickpea stew. Anchovies with endive. All of these dishes are commonly spotted on menus throughout Rome, yet people may not realize they trace their origins to the city’s Jewish Ghetto, and the community that has called it home for more than 2,000 years. Just look to the beloved fried artichoke, carciofi alla Giudia, which literally means Jewish-style artichokes.
There are three distinct groups of Jewish communities in Rome, each of which has contributed immensely to the city’s cultural and culinary treasure trove. The Italkim arrived back in the second century BCE, and have remained in the area ever since; the Sephardim of the Iberian Peninsula escaped to Rome during the Spanish Inquisition; and the Libyans moved here in the 1960s, when Jews were fleeing many Arabic-speaking countries (a large number of whom immigrated there because they already spoke Italian, given Libya was once a colony).
On August 29, this history will be celebrated in Portico: Cooking and Feasting in Rome’s Jewish Kitchen, a new cookbook exploring just that: la cucina Ebraica Romana. Written by Jewish food expert Leah Koenig (who has also authored the tomes The Jewish Cookbook and Modern Jewish Cooking), the book goes deep on the history, culture, and food of the community that helped shape so much of Roman cuisine.
We spoke with Koenig, who is based in Brooklyn, about the inspiration for the book—and her very favorite spots in the Jewish Ghetto.
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How did you decide on Jewish Rome as the focus for this cookbook?
My previous book was The Jewish Cookbook, a 400-recipe behemoth spanning the entirety of the Jewish food world. So when I was thinking about what I wanted my next book to be, I knew I wanted it to be more personal and more focused on a specific part of Jewish cuisine.
I’m not Roman, but Rome, in many ways, is responsible for my being a Jewish food writer. When I first started writing full time, it was around the time that I got married, and we went on our honeymoon in Rome. I had been to Rome a few times prior to that, but I had never meaningfully connected with the Roman Jewish ghetto.
We met all of these people, and had Shabbat dinner at this kosher caterer’s house. I came across all of these foods that were completely unfamiliar to me, as someone who had grown up eating Ashkenazi Jewish foods. And yet, when I ate them, I immediately connected to them. So, I wanted to write a love letter to Jewish Rome because it gave so much to me and I want to give something back to the community.
Were you concerned about tackling this subject as someone who isn’t Roman?
I reached out to my friend Micaela Pavoncello, who’s a tour guide, and said I wanted her blessing to write this book. I’m aware of the fact that I’m not part of the community. And she said to me, These are stories that need to be told. I’ve been wanting to write this book for 20 years, but I’m a tour guide. I’m not the person. Do it. I felt determined to focus on the story of the 16,000 or 17,000 Jews who still live in Rome. It’s a vibrant, outsized community that’s very tight-knit still, after all these thousands of years.
Now, tell us: how can travelers best tap into the Jewish ghetto in Rome?
I would recommend a walking tour with Micaela Pavoncello, who I mentioned before. She gives tours of the Roman Jewish ghetto, starting in the old synagogue and winding through the streets sharing the history. She’s so funny and engaging and knowledgeable. Her tour is a way to see Rome differently, so even if you’re not Jewish yourself, just to be able to get that ancient level of history about Rome is worth it.
And what about food—where would you send someone to eat Jewish Roman cuisine?
The Roman Jewish ghetto is kind of like the Lower East Side in Manhattan or Mile End in Montreal—now it’s fashionable. And there are a lot of restaurants that sell traditional Roman Jewish food, but one that is definitely worth going to is Casalino Osteria. They make all of the fried Roman foods, like fried artichokes, and the fried zucchini I was talking about, and they do amazing fresh pastas. They make an excellent parmigiana—the Roman way, with no breading.
Then there’s a famous 200-ish-year-old kosher bakery called Boccione. There’s no signage. It’s just this shriveled little storefront but you always know where it is because there’s a line out the door. It’s run by these brusque women who are all cousins and sisters and grandmothers and whatnot. You have to know what you want when you go in or they don’t have time for you. But what they’re known for is Pizza Ebraica. It's not actually pizza, but an almond flour cookie that has almonds, pine nuts, and dried and candied fruit and it’s really, really delicious. They also make a sour cherry and ricotta crostata that’s wonderful.
For meat, there’s a restaurant called Renato al Ghetto, they opened maybe five years ago and do a lot of traditional food with a twist. So we’re starting to see the younger generation take some of the dishes and update them.
If you’re interested in connecting and learning more about Libyan Roman Jews, there’s a restaurant called Little Tripoli, which is a kosher meat restaurant [meaning that no dairy is served]. They have couscous dishes and traditional Libyan dishes, and I have a lot of them in the book, too. [Little Tripoli] is not in the Ghetto neighborhood, it’s in Piazza Bologna, which is where most of the Libyan Jews of Rome live.
Any other important sights?
The main synagogue is definitely a must; it’s called the Great Synagogue of Rome, or Tempio Maggiore. And pay attention to the Portico de Ottavia. It’s what I named the book after and it’s an ancient ruin that for many hundreds of years was the fish market. It’s where the Jews got a lot of their protein and sustenance from, and the structure is still there. The main drag stems out from the Portico structure and you should definitely walk up and down those streets. There are a few Judaica shops, some other bakeries, a Jewish bookstore.
Before the Jews were forced to live in the ghetto, which was from around the 1550s through 1871, they lived across the river in Trastevere, which is now also a really hip neighborhood. There isn’t a ton of stuff that you can still see from then, because 1550 was a long time ago, but there is this restaurant called Spirito DiVino. It’s not a Jewish restaurant, but it’s inside an old building that used to be a synagogue, and it’s the oldest synagogue structure in Rome, dating back to around 1100.
While you’re over there, there’s a takeaway restaurant called C’é Pasta…e Pasta. It’s a fresh pasta restaurant owned by Roman Jews (who live all over the city now), and they also have a lot of traditional Roman Jewish fare. It’s some of the better Roman Jewish food that I’ve tried.
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