Week one of my journey to Rome, Italy, and what a special place to start! I have already seen so many amazing places and tried so many amazing dishes! All week I've been trying different pasta dishes, pizzas, sandwiches, and gelato, and everything has exceeded my expectations! I'm excited to share with you some of my favorite dishes I've tried this week, especially the carbonara pasta. I've tried it twice this week, once at a takeaway restaurant called al42, and once at a sitdown restaurant near my hotel called Tonnarello. Both have been so good!
This week I tried carbonara, a pasta dish that is local to the Lazio region of Italy, which Rome is the capital of. Carbonara is a popular dish here, and can be found back at home in the United States, although it isn't quite the same, or as authentic, as in Rome. It typically uses tonnarelli, a long noodle a bit similar in shape to spaghetti, in an egg-based sauce with guanciale (pork).
I was very excited to try carbonara! I've had it back home and knew it to be different here, so I was excited to try it and taste the difference. I've now had it twice this week, and it is very peppery and eggy in comparison to carbonara in the United States, which tends to use more creamy sauces over fully egg-based. I was immediately a fan!
