Rome Sustainable Food Project

Happy 18th birthday, RSFP!!

✨A snippet of our #SustainableGastronomyDay dinner, in collaboration with @thehungerproject and hosted at the @amacademyrome . Each dish served during the event was deliciously cooked by @rsfp_kitchen using elements of produce that would otherwise be wasted 🌱 ensuring #ZeroFoodWaste. Stay tuned on our social media pages for more incoming content about the dinner! #WorldFoodForum2024 #GoodFoodForAll

Parilia celebrated the god Pales and was one of the oldest religious festivals in Rome; our most detailed description comes from Ovid’s Fasti (4.721-862). The original purpose of the festival was the purification of the sheep and their stables. Shepherds burned straw, sulphur, olive wood, pine, and juniper to fumigate the stables; they jumped through the smoke and had their sheep do the same. Then they would use laurel branches to sweep the stables and sprinkle everything with water. (In urban settings, incense and straw would be burned and young men would reenact the fire jumping ritual.) The shepherd would make a dedication of millet cakes and sheep’s milk to the goddess, and then would recite a prayer (Ovid provides a lovely version at Fasti 4.747-76). The Parilia was the same day as Rome’s birthday, the date that Romulus marked the boundaries of the city with a plough, after which his twin brother Remus was killed (either by Romulus or one of his associates). Varro (Rust. 2.1.9) says that Romulus intentionally chose the Parilia as the date to found Rome because he, his brother, and his adoptive father were shepherds. So the festival calls back to Rome’s pastoral origins – to what was imagined as a primitive, often idealized, past. But at the same time, Rome’s economy was always primarily agricultural, which made herdsmen extremely important. The agronomist Columella tells us that the Parilia coincided with the ideal breeding season for ewes, since their lambs would be born in early autumn, after the grape harvest, and with time to grow before the winter (Rust. 7.3.11). This reasoning shows how important seasonal rhythms were to agriculture—especially if shepherds were driving flocks to graze on forage leftover from harvested fields, as transhumant herdsmen in Italy still do. Herdsmen were proverbially (and often literally) very isolated from society; festivals like the Parilia marked a moment of social integration where they gathered with the larger community and their work was celebrated. Poetic treatments of the Parilia often emphasize this community element, and the joviality (/drunkenness) it entailed. ✍️ Katie Dennis FAAR 2026

This year, RSFP is expanding its horizons, merging our core values with academic pursuits to create a richer experience for fellows and the AAR community. By sharing our expertise in local food systems, we aim to foster connections and discoveries, and to allow our worlds to collide and intersect in compelling and unexpected ways. Recently, we hosted ‘Food at the Nexus of Territory, Tradition, and Climate Change’ at the American Academy in Rome in collaboration with Dartmouth, exploring food systems, culture, and sustainability. Fellows now join us for volunteering, workshops, and field trips, including nose-to-tail butchery and foraging walks. During the recent spring trip to Sicily, Head Chef @ssaralevi took fellows to Molini del Ponte, a flour mill and wheat grower that cultivates ancient varieties of Sicilian durum wheat in the archaeological park of Selinunte. We tasted durum wheat bread that smells like the wild chamomile blossoms that grow amongst the wheat fields and tasted local sheep’s milk cheeses.

Happy international women’s day from the women of RSFP, from a kitchen culture of respect, equanimity and inclusion. 🌻💛💪

Nothing lasts forever. Kiki, our beloved sourdough starter whose origins, we think, go back to @ballymaloecookeryschool some 7 or 8 or more years ago, suddenly abandoned us in late February due to being accidentally thrown in the trash during a deep clean or put in the dishwasher- we’re not really sure. This is an appreciation post for our good friend and bread genius @lauralazzaroni_ who really came through for us with a small but mightily bubbling nugget of a gift: Laura gave us a sample of Cary Grant, her beloved starter, whom we have adopted and renamed Kiki Grant, assuming Kiki’s still somewhere here in our kitchen, even if we can’t see her, she’s adding her stardust to our new, happy healthy starter, so that we can continue our sourdough bread production that has become an integral part of our food project. That’s what friends are for! Grazie mille Laurafor making this possible! 🤗🤗

Applications are open! Reimagine the future of food in the heart of Rome. The Rome Sustainable Food Project @rsfp_kitchen , the kitchen at the heart of the Academy’s daily life and events, invites artists, designers, researchers, and innovators to explore sustainable food systems through immersive research, experimentation, and community engagement. This intership is a chance to investigate how food connects culture, ecology, and social impact — all while living and working in one of the world’s most inspiring cities, culinary heritage and multidisciplinary community. Applications are open until March 2, 2026. Valid for both sessions. 
For more information and to apply go to: aarome.org/apply/rome-sustainable-food-project Photos by @enricobrunetti #RSFP2026 #AmericanAcademyinRome #RomeSustainableFoodProject

This group. These women. Aïnhoa, Val, Lavi, Lily. It was a joy to work with you, to teach you, to learn from you, to see your friendships blossom and to witness how supportive you are of each other. How time has flown. My hope is that this experience, these 5 and 1/2 months as an intern in this kitchen, cooking for this community, has been all you hoped for and that it will stay with you and inform your future choices. It’s been wonderful, enjoy your last few days, and remember to come back and visit! 🫶🥬🍎🍊 Yours, @ssaralevi

At RSFP we grow beautiful lettuces all year round because it is our priority to feed our community freshly harvested food that is alive, nourishing, life-giving. You simply can’t beat the taste- or the nutritional value- of produce that was harvested the same day, with no carbon footprint to boot. So even now that temperatures are frosty, we continue to harvest and serve our beautiful garden salads to our community. 🥗 🥬 🌱 🍋

ROME SUSTAINABLE FOOD PROJECT (RSFP)🍊 My time as Guest Chef at the American Academy in Rome’s (AAR) Rome Sustainable Food Project @rsfp_kitchen co-founded by @alicelouisewaters in 2006—has deepened my commitment to using food as a force for positive social impact, cultural exchange, seasonality, locality and cultural dialogue. Thanks to a generous introduction from my longtime friend and mentor @simon.mordant I had the opportunity to collaborate with AAR Director Professor Aliza Wong and RSFP Head Chef Sara Levi, and experience an institutional model where every meal is rooted in care for land, producers and community. The day after arriving in Rome, we headed straight to Mercato Campagna Amica to source from Lazio producers, then to the vibrant, multicultural Nuovo Mercato Esquilino—my source for Asian produce. Harvesting from the Academy’s organic vegetable garden, then cooking a Chinese-style menu with Roman ingredients, reaffirmed my belief that food can tell the story of place while still expressing one’s own culinary traditions. We applied a philosophy of simplicity, integrity of ingredients, ethical sourcing and respectful relationships —highlighting local growers and makers on the menu. I carry these experiences back to my role @powerhousemuseum Parramatta, and with the Powerhouse Food team, where we champion local producers, seasonal ingredients and community stories across Western Sydney. The daily lunches and dinners enjoyed Monday to Friday with @amacademyrome community—people from many places and disciplines—reminded me that sitting down to share a meal can open up conversation and empathy in a way few other things can. aarome.org

AMERICAN ACADEMY IN ROME 🌿🧄 ROME SUSTAINABLE FOOD PROJECT This image captures the deep bonds formed during my recent stay @amacademyrome (AAR), where Director Professor Aliza Wong invited me as Guest Chef for the Rome Sustainable Food Project @rsfp_kitchen A big thank you to longtime friend & mentor @simon.mordant for generously connecting warm-hearted @wongamico & me. Founded in 1894, AAR gathers innovative artists, writers, scholars, and musicians in a vibrant international community on the Janiculum Hill. The RSFP, co-founded by my hero @alicelouisewaters & Mona Talbott in 2006, serves seasonal, nutritious meals from the Academy’s organic garden and local producers, emphasising nose-to-tail, leaf-to-root practices for minimal waste. I collaborated with RSFP dynamic Head Chef @ssaralevi & her team to cook a family-style Chinese dinner for the AAR community. We sourced delectable organic pork belly & locally cultivated funghi—shiitake, galletti, cardoncello, & pioppini—from Mercato Campagna Amica; fresh red chillies, coriander, & round-leaf mint from multicultural Nuovo Mercato Esquilino; plus Cavolo Nero, broccolini, peppers, & lemon harvested fresh from the RSFP garden that morning. While enjoying the Academy’s daily cucina povera, I shared home-style Chinese dishes: Mum’s fried rice, caramelised beef oxtail with Asian herbs, grilled chicken thigh with BK dressing, deep-fried silken tofu with Sichuan pepper, Lucky Kwong chilli, & roast potatoes with black bean and chilli. On arrival, I bought a jar of the RSFP house-made granola; days later, I refilled it with leftover ginger-shallot dipping sauce—turning a simple container into a vessel of shared experience. It all felt just right, echoing those initial bonds. I treasure this cross-cultural exchange of cooking Chinese flavours for new friends using Rome’s local ingredients. Visionary Director Aliza Wong has cultivated a nurturing environment, drawing out the very best in all the AAR community, evident in the dedication of its longstanding staff. The RSFP’s regenerative garden practices inspire deeply, weaving sustainability, community, and creativity in ways that resonate far beyond the table.

MERCATINO Thursday, December 4 8–10 pm Part of ‘Food at the Nexus of Territory, Tradition and Climate Change’ In collaboration with @dartmouthcollege and organized with our @rsfp_kitchen As the conversations on climate change, sustainability, food, and public policy draw to a close, this culminating event will celebrate the tangible outcomes of regenerative practice and local collaboration. Showcasing the wares of producers reimagining agriculture through soil health, biodiversity, and circular systems, the mercatino highlights how ethical production and culinary creativity intersect. Carefully curated tasting plates, crafted from local ingredients, alongside selections from regional wineries, will illustrate the potential of place-based, sustainable food networks. This gathering in the American Academy in Rome Cortile, featuring the Rome Sustainable Food Project, stands as both a celebration and a living demonstration of resilience, innovation, and the evolving relationship between people, food, and the planet. Producers: @agresti1902 @aristoapi @biovaproject @casalecertosa @feral_drinks @lamaremmana_caseificio / @ruma__bottegaecucina @perledellatuscia And the generous support from @tascadalmerita Only card, no cash. Please read the full instructions in the last slide. #AmericanAcademyinRome #Dartmouth #RSFP