New discovery in Trastevere

It's nice to see new places popping up in Trastevere... things had been stagnating here while neighborhoods like Monti and Pigneto were blowing up with all sorts of fun things. Needless to say, I was ever so jealous till now!
On my way to my favorite produce vendor in Trastevere, I spotted this tiny shop that I'd never seen before: Pasqualino.
He just opened this shop one month ago but had been at the Ettore Rolli market for years. It caught my attention because I spotted PECANS - both whole and shelled!! I stepped into his tiny shop and was amazed by the products, most of which are sold in bulk: black beans (from Mexico), dried spices, seeds (flax, sesame, you name it!), goji berries and all kinds of dried fruit and nuts, farro + lots of other grains, reasonably priced Italian whole wheat pasta, different kinds of pâté, sauces, dried olives, fresh porcini mushrooms, PAN masa harina, etc.
Bravo Pasqualino!

Pasqualino
Via Portuense 96/E
cell: +39 339-244-1350 or +39 333-912-0732
http://www.agriroby.it
(they'll be updating the website soon with new address and info)

Nothing gold can stay...

Okay, maybe I’m being a bit dramatic with that title but I am genuinely bummed out about what’s happened to my beloved Farmers’ Market in Garbatella. Backstory: In March 2013, the market was moved from its convenient (for me, at least) Testaccio location to the current Garbatella venue. That in itself was a bit traumatic for me, as it would now take me 45-60 minutes to get there by transpo, BUT my love for this market was great enough for me to overcome that hurdle. And week after week, I schlepped myself and my granny shopping cart there.

Just this month however, I discovered that some of my favorite vendors are no longer part of the market: Giulio Pace who sold to-die-for spelt bread; the man (whose name I don’t know but he had impressively ornate sideburns/facial hair) who sold drool-inducing cheese that people would wait in line forever for; the chatty lady who sold jams and honey; the rosy-cheeked organic produce vendor who sold hard-to-find butternut squash amongst other things (he still has a stand at the Via di San Teodoro market and I discovered he has a shop too!); and a few others.
Apparently when the city (or whoever runs this market, it’s not very clear to me) first decided to create this market, it was viewed as a trial run, so they didn't ask vendors to pay rent. Cut to September 2014, they realized the market was profitable and now wanted to be paid rent. Seems fair enough to me but some vendors didn’t want to pay for some reason or another, so they left. As for my spelt-bread man, he was actually from L'Aquila in Abruzzo, and at the start was allowed to partake in the market (which is strictly for Lazio producers) only because they wanted to help out his company after the devastating earthquake. But I guess the city no longer deems that necessary so they tossed him out. And so, yet again, Rome has managed to ruin what was once a perfect setup...

I wouldn't want this to come across as a gloom & doom post so I must point out that a handful of the vendors from this market- including my absolute favorite produce dealer Leopoldo Antonetti & family and the lovely lady who sells potatoes/Asian pears/etc. from Azienda agricola Provvedi Alessandro - have opened up a shop in Trastevere where you can find the same products (and more!!) on sale EVERY DAY... well, except for Monday.

La Bottega di Campagna Amica di Trastevere
Via Bernardino Passeri, 6/8
mass.nesta@gmail.com
cell: +39 339-5214733
closed Mon
Tues Wed Thu Fri Sat 8:00- 20:00
Sun 8:00- 14:00
(I'd suggest calling to double-check the hours on holidays and during the month of August)

Farewell, farmers' market

My beloved farmers' market in Testaccio is moving to Garbatella! There was talk for several months about this happening, but there was no set date... until today. I was handed this flyer with all the info.
Farewell, farmers' market, it was nice having you in the 'hood.

Famers' market

In the past few years, I kept noticing posters in Rome advertising "Farmer's Market" (ahem: unless it's just one farmer selling his/her goods, you might want to rethink where you placed that apostrophe!) but I never bothered to follow up... until recently. A dear friend of mine went to the farmers' market in Testaccio and raved about the great prices and excellent quality of the produce. So we went together last week. The market is located indoors and has a decent sized selection of only LOCAL goods.

You can get incredibly delicious in-season fruits and vegetables, cheese, bread, homemade pasta, honey, jam, sweets, etc. and the prices are lower than "mercato" or supermarket prices because there's no middle man, it's just a farmer selling goods directly to the consumer.

I couldn't help but chuckle about the newly adopted "farmers' market" term because traditionally, all mercati used to be like this: they were filled with local farmers selling their goods directly to consumers at reasonable prices. But then things went awry and these stands were selling all produce at any time of the year. At my mercato in Trastevere, for example, I managed to find only one real farmer: he and his daughter have a limited selection and quantity of in-season produce. They don't have cases and cases of apples with "Melinda" stickers on them, they only sell fava beans when they're in season, if you go do your shopping late in the morning you'll often find that all the goods have already been snatched by the neighborhood's old women who flock to that stand as if it were Mecca.

It's amusing but sad that Italians had to borrow our term "famers' market" to make the age-old mercato tradition seem like something new and trendy. Italians need to realize that some things are better left unchanged.