Yesterday’s Easter holiday lured everyone out of their houses and onto the streets of Rome. Today the holiday continues — it’s Pasquetta or Little Easter — and there’s likely to be more of the same. Visits to the park, strolls through the centro storico, and drives in the country are widely-pursued Easter options in the Eterna, but none of those are as important as eating, a fact attested by the crowds that flocked to traditional Roman restaurants, trattorie, and osterie at lunch yesterday.
So what to eat on a Roman Easter? Religious associations aside, Romans celebrate the holiday feasting on flavorful and colofulfruits and vegetables that have been sorely missed for months. At long last, the countryside has shaken off its winter frost, thereby allowing spring’s first strawberries, asparagus, baby onions, and artichokes to take their place on menus and in markets. Romans eat them with relish and gusto — everyone knows that they won’t be with us for long.
As the weather warms over the the next few months, we’ll move on to late spring and summer foods that are just as delicious, but not quite so prized as are those pale green vegetables and soft red fruits. After all, the much-anticipated Easter appearance of strawberries and asparagus marks a change in season: when those tasty treasures appear on our plates, we are reminded that the sun is climbing higher in the sky, the air is warming, the days are getting longer — it’s the new year’s celebration of Roman food and we’re happy to be in this particular position on earth as the planet spins its way around the sun once again.
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