The Rome Food Tours for Foodies

Private & Small-Group Tours

Roman Food Today

Romans are proud of their food, and rightly so. As is the case with all regions of Italy, Roman cooking has a distinct, unique identity. Every morning fruit and vegetable markets spring up across the city, and almost all the food available is from farms in Lazio and the surrounding regions. Seasonal produce isn’t a buzzword in Italy, but rather a fact of life; if it isn’t in season, you’re not getting it at the market.

The ingredients Romans use to make their food, and why they use those ingredients, is down to an interweaving of different aspects of Rome’s history and culture.  Romans are more likely to cook with pork lard than olive oil, unlike many other regions in Italy. Rome’s love of pork dates back to Ancient Rome, a time when pork was a favored meat among rich patrician and poor plebian alike. It’s why pasta dishes that use pork cuts, like Amatriciana and Carbonara, reach their height of excellence in Rome.

Roman Jews have made a spectacular impact on modern Roman food culture, which shouldn’t be underestimated. When Rome’s Jewish population was forcibly ghettoized (a terrible time in Rome’s history), one of the only jobs Jews could legally hold was selling food on the street. This was the origin of the modern friggitoria – the popular stalls selling fried food you find all over Rome. Foods beloved by Romans, like supplì, deep-fried anchovies and zucchini flowers, all have their origins in the Jewish ghetto.

Other foods adored by modern Romans have their origins in Testaccio, an ancient rione (district) of the modern city. During the 1800s, this area was dominated by a huge slaughterhouse; today, the trendy contemporary art gallery MACRO can be found in its place. Workers often would take offal, the cheaper cuts of meat, home from the slaughterhouse at the end of their shifts, and as a result, offal became a staple of Roman cooking. Dishes like oxtail, tongue and tripe are still eaten regularly by Romans, and are still served in trattorias beloved by locals.

Rome: the city that gave romance its name; a city famous for passionate love, high art, dramatic history and great food. If you’re planning a vacation to The Eternal City and want to taste the sweet life, there’s no better way to do it than joining a unique Rome food tour. All that weaving across cobbled streets, and bridges, and in and out of Palaces, and art galleries, is sure to work up an appetite.

Italian food is among the most beloved cuisines in the world – and Rome promises you some of the best food in Italy.

Rome’s Food Tours of Foodies

Our walking food tours, Rome, will take you right to the beating heart of authentic Roman food culture. Walk through the historic center – a UNESCO World Heritage site – and stop to admire iconic buildings like The Pantheon, in-between mouthfuls of the best Italian food, loved by modern Romans.

Rome Food Tour of Foodies n. 1 

Join our original Food Tour of Foodies n. 1 – Coccole e Dolce Vita to taste the very best of fresh, locally sourced Roman cuisine. Our expert guide will take you on a walking food tour, Rome, through the city’s hotspots for artisanal goods. Stops on this tour include a café where they make all their biscotti on site, and a gelateria where the gelato is 100% natural. The crowning glory is lunch at VyTA, an enoteca beloved by Roman sophisticates, that’s normally unknown to tourists.

This food tour in Rome is also available with a private guide.

Rome Food Tour of Foodies n. 2  

This original Food Tour of Foodies n. 2 – Streets of Rome City Center will guide you from street food hotspots, like the fantastic friggitoria Supplizio, to a traditional Roman trattoria. You’ll get to try the authentic Roman food that tourists very rarely hear about, let alone eat.

This Rome food tour is also available private.

Breakfast at the Vatican, Anyone?

Join a private or small-group, early morning Vatican Tour to enjoy breakfast in an incomparable location. Our private, early morning Sistine Chapel experiences close with breakfast in the Vatican’s Courtyard of the Pine. If you want to eat American-style buffet breakfast, with a pancake chef on hand, in an incomparable location – this is the Vatican tour for you.