My Italian Romance

Visual by @avnisart

To me, Study Abroad Programs aim for students to explore cultures through food, music, film, and fashion. So, in 2017, when I was given the opportunity to study abroad, I decided to go to Rome, Italy – a place I believed was enriched by all of the above. I knew from the very beginning that when it came down to food, I would be spoilt for choice. Everything I knew about Italian food excited me; there was no food item I particularly disliked. Of course, my knowledge surrounding the cuisine was limited, to say the least. I was still to learn the different flavors of gelato, the authentic texture of a good tiramisu, and the fruitfulness of fine Italian wine. I don’t think I could ever forget the first meal I had – a cheeseburger at a restaurant called“T-Bone Station”. This American fast food joint seemed more familiar than other places, and I guess something about moving to a new city made me crave my comfort food – burgers. Although, as I stepped out of the restaurant that night, I noticed a particularly long line of hungry customers outside of (what looked like) a hole-in-the-wall pizza shop. It had no name, and to this day I can’t remember if it even had doors. All I recall is that it served over twenty different variations of pizza and most of them seemed to sell well.

This place was right around the corner from where I lived, and so the very next day I walked over to it. It was 9 am and the pizza place was surprisingly overflowing with customers. I remember having to uncomfortably glance over shoulders to peep at the different pizza flavors behind the counter. There was ham & cheese, truffle mushroom, pesto, and then something I had never seen before – “sweet potato pizza.” I love sweet potato and I love pizza, but I couldn’t imagine the two together, to me that was literally a recipe for disaster. So, I went ahead and purchased two ham & cheese slices which tasted delicious. I knew I had to bring my roommate here, and the following day I did.

My roommate was particularly fascinated by the place. She loved the way it smelled, the smiling chefs who complimented every customer, and the variety of flavors on the menu. I was pleasantly surprised when she opted for the sweet potato pizza, especially because she too seemed quite doubtful of its taste. To our surprise, that pizza actually tasted really good – I would go as far as to say that it was one of the best pizzas I have ever tasted. Not only did that pizza challenge my perception of flavor, but eventually brought me closer to my roommate. Throughout the semester, we had some of our finest conversations over slices of sweet potato pizza and 5-euro bottles of Pinot grigio.

Since it was still just the beginning of my semester, I knew I had lots more to explore. I wanted to try every possible menu item at every café/restaurant I visited. In fact, Carbonara pasta, truffle mushroom risotto, arancini, and cannoli became part of my everyday diet. I would make sure I stepped out for a meal as often as I could. Italy just seemed prettier through its food.

Somewhere at the beginning of October, my mother came to visit me at my dorm in Trastevere, Rome. By this point, I thought of myself as a semi-qualified food guide and was thrilled to take her to some of the nicest restaurants around campus. There is a place called Piazza di Santa Maria that attracted tourists and locals on a daily basis. It is a lively, dreamlike spot crowded with restaurants offering open seating. I let my mother pick where she would like to eat since every restaurant in that Piazza (square) was much like the other. My mother loves the color white, so she picked a restaurant with white & gold furniture and candlelit tables. When we sat down, she asked me about my time in Rome and what I had been doing all semester long. We spoke about school, roommates, and my life in Rome. I told her about the best tiramisu I’ve ever had. It was after school; I had traveled two hours to a DHL office in the city to pick up my passport. When I arrived, I was told to wait for two more hours because the delivery man who had my package was out on duty. Going home would’ve been a waste of time, so I walked around an unfamiliar neighborhood and sat down for a cup of cappuccino. Since my passport was taking quite long to arrive, I ordered myself a tiramisu too. The café I was sitting at was cute but looked just like any other, the menu was limited and the food on the table next to me was terribly plated. I wasn’t excited but I had to kill time somehow. When my tiramisu arrived, it was the size of a cheeseburger - golden brown layers with the most divine mixture of eggs, mascarpone cheese & cocoa. I hadn’t seen or smelled anything like it before. It looked so good I had to feed it to my camera first. To my surprise, the tiramisu tasted even better than it looked. I was so lost in its flavor I didn’t even realize how long I had been eating it for. It was that day I realized some of the tastiest foods in life are the ones you never expect to taste good.

Cacio e Pepe

I also told my mother about another time at the beginning of the semester when I devoured four whole scoops of gelato in under five minutes. I used to cross this gelato place on my way to class every evening that sold a scoop for a euro. It was a cheap, popular gelato place. Whether it was an early weekend morning or a late weekday night, this store would always be packed with customers. They had interesting flavors of which Stracciatella (chocolate-chip) was my favorite. I started to eat gelato every day after I discovered that place. Soon enough, one scoop became two, and two became four.

We were two glasses of wine down when I proceeded to tell mom about the best chicken parmigiana I had ever eaten, when she stopped me and said – “I asked you about Italy and all you have spoken about is Italian food.” She was right, there was no other way I ever chose to describe my time in Rome. Every time someone asked about my semester abroad, all I spoke about is all the food I had been eating.

As the waiter approached our table, my eyes were fixated on the plate of pasta he lowered in front of me. I had ordered a plate of something called “Cacio e Pepe.” The description said it was pasta with pecorino cheese & black pepper – that’s all. I was intrigued by the simplicity and I think that’s what motivated me to order it. My mom said, “You’re not going to like this, it’s not spicy enough for you.” She knew me well and thought to herself that someone who soaks everything she eats in hot sauce would not like such a dish. I regretted my decision that very instant – “Does pecorino even have a taste?”

As I courageously dug my fork into the plate and swirled the spaghetti around its tines, I started to think about what I should order to replace what was in front of me. Although, after that first bite, it was almost like I had unearthed new taste buds. The pasta wasn’t spicy, but it was perfect. The cheese complimented the pepper so well; the pasta definitely did not need another ingredient. The cheese had a sharp, delicious taste and the pepper added that little spice I needed. My mother was pleasantly surprised to see me enjoy it so much. Ever since that day, I don’t think I have ever not ordered Cacio e Pepe if I see it on a menu. When I moved to Los Angeles the semester after, I made a list of places that served Cacio e Pepe so that I would never have to go too long without it.

Amo Roma

Here I was, on this quest to discover & taste delicious Italian food, and every dish I fell in love with was one I came across unexpectedly. I tried understanding Italy through its food, and it generously gave me a dish to go along with some of my best experiences there. Food has such a significant role in my study abroad story and I genuinely believe it has the power to teach you so much about a culture. The history of food, the evolution of its recipes, the people that you choose to consume it with – are all ways in which food manages to do this. They say Italy is one of the most romantic places in the world, and I was lucky enough to witness this firsthand. Something about all the wine & food in Rome made it hard not to fall in love with the city. I realized then that this “love” wasn’t in the air, but in fact had been on the plate in front of me, every single day for five whole months.

Mehak Rajpal is a 22-year-old college student studying International Relations & Business Law at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. She loves poetry, music and going out to try new foods. She spends most of her time playing with her dog, Lucy.