Where to Eat in Testaccio (minus the offal)

Rome's Testaccio neighborhood has long been associated with so-called quinto quarto dishes, traditional delights made from the leftover parts of grazing animals (including tripe, sweetbreads, lungs, nerves, tail, intestines, and liver).

But it's not all organs in contemporary Rome's working-class wonderland.
Testaccio has grown hipper by the decade and is now home to upbeat nightlife, museums and dance clubs. It also has its share of very good offal-less gourmet destinations.

Here's my shortlist of places to find great Testaccio meals while taking a break from the innards frenzy. Continue Reading ➔

Vignarola recipe

homemade playdough firstlings

Strawberries in January? "E perché?" That's how Giuliana, my greengrocer replies when I tell her how the organic supermarket in California where my dad lives sells off-season goods all year long. Tomatoes, peaches, cardoons, cabbage and raspberries all share the same space. At the same time.

It's a given for Giuliana, and for her long-standing clients—and Italians in general—that agricultural bounty be closely tied to nature's cycles, to climactic fluctuation, sun, rain, ice. Rhythmically defined by the seasons...

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