If you’re in the food industry you already know that Katie Parla is your go-to person for spot-on restaurant advice in Rome. Luckily, she’s made her expertise accessible in the many articles and books she’s authored in the New York Times, Serious Eats, Eater, Condé Nast Traveler to her ebook, “Eating and Drinking in Rome” and her cookbook, “Tasting Rome: Fresh Flavors and Forgotten Recipes from an Ancient City.” So the next time you find yourself in Rome, you would be smart to benefit from her deep knowledge of the Eternal City’s cuisine on one of her many culinary-focused tours.

One of Rome’s oldest and most important neighborhoods, both culinarily and historically, is the Jewish Ghetto. Jews have called Rome home dating back to the 2nd century B.C.E. and the community is regarded as the oldest Jewish community in the world, save for Israel. What was born from their isolation in the Ghetto is a unique kind of Jewish-Italian cuisine known as Cucina Ebraica, one that you’ll learn from Katie was further influenced by the diaspora from both the Spanish Inquisition as well as the subsequent migration of Jews that fled Libya to Rome in the 1960s.

On this walking tour, Katie takes you back in time through the twenty-two centuries of this community and its culture’s culinary evolution. You’ll visit the Jewish Ghetto’s local purveyors that have been there for centuries, taste seasonal and local  dishes at kosher bakeries as well as restaurants.

If you have time to plan ahead, make it your business to book a food tour with one of the most knowledgable ex-pats and food experts living in Rome, Katie Parla.

Note: Katie also offers private tours, so if group tours are booked inquire about a private tour.

The Basics:

Tour Company: Katie Parla/Parla Food
Cost: Inquire
Length:  Varies