Every time I decide to detox, the one food I miss the most during those miserable few hours of resistance is the fatty cornetti. It’s a love-hate relationship. Cornetti are the Italian version of the French croissant. Both are crescent shaped, flaky, and chock full of fat and sugar. But this is where the similarities end. Cheap approximations proliferate.
Every Rome corner coffee shop serves cornetti in the morning, until they run out. Whether delivered fresh from a wholesale baker in wide shallow boxes or micro-waved in back, processed cornetti pumped with preservatives and margarine are the sadly accepted norm. Usually, industrially manufactured frozen cornetti go hand-in-hand with the overly roasted, bitter espresso served beside it.
Why is it that Italians — so prompt to ignite discussion on anything food-related — blindly accept the breakfast fraud? Indifference? Numbed morning palate? In truth, cornetti have deteriorated. Places that bake their own artisan products are now an exception, and a rare one at that. Fortunately for me — and for my fellow cornetto aficionados as well as my dietician’s wallet — the fog is finally lifting. The Dark Ages of cornetti appear to be ending.
One of my favorite memories of growing up in Rome is knocking on the back door of a bakery at some crazy hour and buying them right out of the oven.
Those were the days, Joanne. That secret middle-of-the-night activity can no longer happen, but some good places still exist… shhh! When are you coming back to Rome?