The carbonara we know today is prepared by simply tossing spaghetti with guanciale (cured pork jowl), egg yolks, and Pecorino Romano cheese. Despite its simplicity, this dish remains one of Rome's favorites, equally popular throughout the country.

Named after Amatrice, a provincial town in the Sabine Hills northeast of Rome; the iconic Amatriciana sauce is often considered a part of the "holy trinity of Roman pasta", together with carbonara and cacio e pepe. Amatriciana was invented in the 17th century by adding tomatoes to the already famous gricia sauce – diced tomatoes are sautéed in fat rendered from juicy bits of guanciale (cured pork jowl), then tossed together with grated pecorino cheese and either spaghetti or bucatini pasta.

This hard cooked cheese is made with whole milk from pasture-grazed sheep, and has a particularly salty and slightly piquant flavor. Aged for at least 5 months, Pecorino Romano makes an excellent table cheese, particularly when combined with fresh vegetables and fruit, but after eight months of aging, it is mainly used for grating over classic Roman dishes such as Bucatini all’Amatriciana, Rigatoni alla Carbonara, Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe, and Tripe alla Romana.

As with so many classic Italian dishes, the story of pasta alla gricia is one of unclear and often disputed origin. Pasta alla gricia is sometimes called amatriciana bianca (lit. white amatriciana), which reflects the common root of these two pasta dishes, though gricia is known to be older than the tomato-based amatriciana sauce.

Invented by Stefano Callegari in 2008 in Rome, trapizzino is a popular street food item consisting of a pocket of pizza bianca that is typically filled with a meat or vegetable filling – usually classic Roman dishes that would traditionally be impossible to consume on the go.

This ancient dish with Roman origins is regarded as one of the simplest and most satisfying Italian dishes. Cacio e pepe consists of pasta (usually spaghetti), aged Pecorino Romano cheese, salt, and lots of ground black pepper. Since the ingredients are easy to transport and do not spoil easily, it was once the favorite dish of Roman shepherds.

Pizza al taglio is a variety of Italian pizza that is baked in rectangular trays and sold sliced into squares or rectangles. Prices can be marked either per slice of pizza or per kilogram. The first pizza al taglio was baked in Rome in the late 1950s, when it was topped with olive oil and tomato sauce.

Spaghetti aglio olio e peperoncino is a classic Italian dish originating from the Lazio area. This cucina povera staple is made with just a few simple ingredients such as spaghetti, garlic, olive oil, parsley, and peperoncino rosso or diavolillo (lit. little devil), a small red chili pepper that adds a spicy kick of heat to the dish.

Widely considered to be one of Rome's best street foods, these breaded, deep-fried rice croquettes are in fact quite similar to the Sicilian arancini, but unlike which, Roman supplì are traditionally filled with mozzarella, and the rice is pre-simmered in a tomato-based meat sauce.