Rome food tips

[Bearpawk]

Hello travellers
Visiting Rome next week for a few days and I was wondering about the food. Any tips or cultural things I should be aware of ?

I hear bread and jam is a common breakfast, is this the case ? I'm trying to watch my blood glucose so I'm more of a Greek yoghurt or eggs person.
Are lunch and evening meals eaten at the same time as uk?
For restaurants that do the primi/pasta course is it rude to overlook it or can you just go straight in with a main course for example?

Thanks !

You can definitely go straight to the main course and skip the pasta course.

Can't advise on breakfast. If you are in a hotel, there should be a good selection of meats, salamis, cheeses etc not just sugary breads and pastries.

Breakfast in hotels have a lot of bread and pastry items. Good coffee though! We had a strange type of scrambled eggs. Cold meats. Muesli. Yogurts and pastries available. Found dinner and lunches outside of hotel expensive. Enjoy!!

You can also have just pasta and no meat/fish course. Often the main courses have no veg and you order those as a side.

The Roman carciofi (artichokes) are lovely and in season now.

As pp said if you’re having breakfast in a hotel there will probably be cheeses, salami/ham, and maybe yoghurt as well as all the cake/pastry things.

Worth saving your glucose allowance for the gelato 😋

Thank you everyone, can't wait

Can't wait to try the artichoke !

I have never seen bread and jam eaten or offered as breakfast! Maybe in a hotel as part of a buffet? Usually you’d get breakfast at a bar, so a pastry. You’d not usually see people eating eggs or yoghurt. So maybe just as part of a hotel breakfast.

Are lunch and evening meals eaten at the same time as uk? Lunch, maybe. Southern Italy eats dinner much later. We would never go to a restaurant until 9pm in winter or 10pm in summer. Obviously in tourist areas like Rome, you’ll be able to eat earlier, but not before 7pm at least. Unless the place is an absolute tourist trap and very bad.

Look out for restaurants that offer the ‘menu del giorno’. We were in Rome recently and had a great set lunch for €15 for 2 courses and a drink.

For restaurants that do the primi/pasta course is it rude to overlook it or can you just go straight in with a main course for example? Of course you can just have a secondo (main course). Or just go for a pasta dish, which is your primo. I quite often have antipasto (small dishes at start) and then a pasta primo.

Lunchtime will be cheaper than dinner in restaurants Also Romans stand up for coffee snacks etc which is even cheaper

Agree on coffee, snack etc. Cheapest is standing at bar. Next eating inside. You’ll be charged a premium for eating outside. Italian husband was ??? with me when we were there a few weeks ago. It was such a beautiful day that I wanted to eat my pastry outside. Got charged much more!

It’s the same in many places though, including Paris, to be fair. You are being charged rental space for the outside tables.