This Easter, Erica Foffi and her partner hosted their two best friends for lunch. The couple wanted to prepare a traditional Easter meal of frittata di asparagi (an omelette with asparagus), lasagna and pastiera – a pie of rice, ricotta and candied fruit – typical Easter dishes they grew up eating in their Roman homes.
Like Foffi and her partner, who immigrated to Canada from Rome in 2023, her best friends are also newcomers, having immigrated here from India.
“They never tried Italian Easter. We really wanted to celebrate properly and recreate traditions. Of course, we had to adapt the dishes since our friends are vegetarian,” Foffi says.
According to Foffi, the friends loved the meal, especially the asparagus frittata, something that they had never tried before. The dish has become a staple in Foffi’s private cooking classes, which she began offering about a month ago.
For $50, plus the price of groceries, Foffi offers lessons in traditional Roman cooking at people’s homes across the city. She began the project as a side hustle to supplement the stipend she receives as a postdoctoral fellow at Toronto‘s Princess Margaret Research Centre, part of the medical degree that brought her to Canada in the first place.
“I wasn’t expecting this much interest,” says Foffi, who markets her service, along with some staple dishes such as suppli, Rome’s version of a rice ball, on Facebook Marketplace.
So far, Foffi has conducted six classes, leveraging recipes she watched her grandmother and mom make while she was growing up, to teach Canadians about Roman food.
Grocery shopping for the proper ingredients can be tricky, says Foffi, who lives in Toronto’s Yonge-Eglinton neighbourhood and does not own a car. Since moving to the city, she’s discovered Cataldi Fresh Markets and other specialty stores, which sell Italian cheeses and produce at cheaper prices than Eataly but are not easily accessible by transit.
Many of the recipes require minimal ingredients, especially the four classic Roman pasta dishes of carbonara, cacio e pepe, pasta alla gricia and amatriciana, which all use heavy amounts of Pecorino Romano cheese.
“Because the dishes are so simple, you need to make sure you have the right ingredients or the whole flavour changes,” Foffi says.
One Roman staple that has been particularly difficult to find is Italian artichokes, which are usually stuffed with meat, garlic and pepper and simmered in tomato sauce for two to three hours.
“My local Loblaw and Metro don’t have them, especially the Roman type, which are more tender than the common ones,” she says.
Other traditional dishes – such as chicken roasted with bell peppers, typically eaten in August – are easier for her to enjoy in Toronto.
How I save money on groceries: By buying from Costco when possible, especially pantry staples such as pasta and tomato sauce.
How I splurge on groceries: I splurge on good-quality olive oil and imported cheeses. I don’t think you can find cheaper alternatives to Parmigiano Reggiano and Pecorino Romano cheeses.
The hardest shopping habit to keep up: I find the fruit and vegetables at Canadian grocery stores are not as flavourful as in Italy. Keeping the habit of eating as many fruits and vegetables as I did back home is difficult when they’re not as flavourful and cost much more than they do back home.
How I’ve changed my eating habits recently: I started eating more plant-based protein since moving to Canada, such as tofu and other soy-based products. There’s a large variety here, not like in Italy, and they’re also pretty cheap. It‘s funny to try to adapt traditional Italian dishes with these ingredients, but it‘s been fun. … I’ve adapted my mom’s ragu recipe with soy granules instead of ground beef, and it actually tastes pretty good.
Five items always in my cart:
1. Extra-virgin olive oil – Bertolli – $19.99 for one litre: This olive oil tastes the closest to the oil I was used to having in Italy. I buy a pretty big bottle for a good price. I use it for everyday cooking and it lasts me a while.
2. Organic pasta (various types) – Rummo – $19.99 for six boxes: This pasta is pretty good. It‘s imported, and I use it for pretty much any pasta dish I make.
3. Parmigiano Reggiano – Galbani – $30 a kilogram: I’ve purchased parmigiano from Eataly in Toronto before, and the price is outrageous. I buy it from Costco now, since it‘s cheaper. It‘s imported, and tastes how it should.
4. Passata – Mutti – $20.39 for a six pack: If you buy the wrong tomato sauce, it tends to be sour, and you’ll need to add sugar to the recipe. This one tastes great.
5. Ground espresso – Lavazza – $8: It‘s probably the most expensive thing I buy, but it‘s worth it. We found an espresso machine from De’Longhi on sale when we moved to Canada and purchased it for $150. It‘s much more expensive to buy espresso here than it is back home.
