Buon Appetito! Rome’s “Jewish Soul Food”
by Alison Morse
Most days, Attilio Pavoncello, an Italian Jew and amateur chef, can be found on Via Portico D’Ottavia, the main street of Rome’s former Jewish ghetto, helping out at his wife Speranza’s souvenir shop or his son Umberto’s kosher restaurant. He has lived on this street for more than 60 years and has seen it transform from a quiet, cobblestoned promenade with a restaurant or two, to a riot of awnings, umbrellas and outdoor tables belonging to the kosher Roman Jewish restaurants that have sprung up in the last ten years. Blackboard signs promising the most authentic version of popular deep-fried Roman-Jewish specialties, such as artichokes alla giudia (Jewish-style artichokes) or fiore di zucca ripieno (zucchini stuffed with mozzarella and anchovies), compete for the attention of tourists, both Jewish and not, from all over the world. “Being Jewish...