This weekend Kristin and I ventured to an all-local, all-organic market near the Roman Forum with my friend, Albert, who is apparently quite adept at finding these types of things, as well as the best restaurants, gelato, and sweet shops in Rome. The markets are held every weekend from 9-6ish (they close earlier on Sundays) in a convention center-type hall on Via di San Teodoro on the southwest side of the Palatine Hill. It was amazing! It reminded me a bit of the Madison farmer’s market, without the Capitol building in the center and of course the fact that currencies and weights were being shouted in Italian. There were stalls from wall to wall, each filled with their delicious wares. Tables were set up at the edge of the complex for the lunch that the vendors take turns serving each week. Market goers and other vendors can pay 5 euro for a completely organic (and apparently very filling) lunch, then continue shopping. Albert showed us around and pointed out the best stalls for certain items while Kristin and I just drooled over all of our options. We were lulled into a preemptive food coma and completely forgot to take pictures (stay tuned for pictures from next week’s visit). There were fruit and veggie vendors, honey, bread, olive oil, wine, sweets, and most importantly – CHEESE! I am turning Kristin into a cheese-aholic, but I don’t think she minds. After waiting in line (okay, well, sort of a line – the stall actually had people take numbers and wait to be served, which is an improvement over the usual shoving) for a long time at one of the recommended fruit vendor stands we broke down and each bought “un etto” (one gram) of pecorino romano cheese and a jar of the most amazing honey I’ve ever tasted – and I don’t even really like honey! We then bought huge loafs of bread for just over a euro each and some pears. Once back at home we assembled our purchases and began devouring them immediately. I was buzzed (sorry, that’s a bad pun) for the rest of the day from my honey consumption. I can’t wait to go back next weekend to buy even more!
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