Rome (if you want to)

Last year I travelled to Rome to be in the presence of my spiritual leader. I lined up in the scorching heat with fellow disciples, for what seemed like eternity, to have my soul nourished by his teachings. Looking back on that trip to the Holy City, I recall vividly the wonder and grace exuded by this man and it is hard to believe it is the same person I heard about just last week. You can imagine my distress on hearing the news that the great one himself had taken gravely ill and could no longer fulfil his work commitments.

But enough about Morrissey. This is a food blog so strap yourself in.

In celebration of my trip to Rome last year, I wanted to share a few food photos of a friendly vegetarian eatery tucked ever-so-slightly behind Piazza del Popolo. FGV readers, I give you il Margutta.

As happens with a lot of vegetarian eateries, you really have to put the heavy word on servers of il Margutta to discover what is vegan. The trouble I had was that I don’t speak a shred of Italian, apart from a few lines of dialogue I’ve memorised from Madonna’s Ciao Italia live concert video that I watched endlessly as a teenage gay.

But Saint Morrissey must have been listening to my FGV prayers as my embarrassingly-inept attempts to say ‘is it vegan?’ in Italian were met by friendly servers and a chef more than willing to walk me through every dish on the menu using his near-perfect English. He even brought forward from the kitchen specially made desserts for his vegan visitors.

The price wasn’t what I would call low but in a city with little to offer a vegan traveller with no grasp of the language, I felt I was getting the bargain of a lifetime and it was an all-you-can-eat scenario. Check my photos below and consider il Margutta for a tasty, convenient meal next time you are in Rome searching for a bit of divine inspiration.

Visit il Margutta online