UPDATE: PANIFICIO BONCI IS NO LONGER VEGETARIAN

Sorry to all my fellow meat eating, lard loving carnivores out there. Gone are the days of chowing down on a luscious slice of Vito Bernabei’s porchetta sandwiched between two crisp pieces of Bonci’s pizza bianca. As of November 3, 2014, Gabriele Bonci’s eponymous bakery on Via Trionfale is 100% vegetarian. Rome’s most famous baker quit eating meat last year, then Pizzarium went mostly vegetarian last summer (Bonci’s landmark pizza by the slice joint went back to serving meaty things), so Panificio’s recent transition shouldn’t come as a huge shock. But I, for one, will mourn the loss of the porchetta sandwiches, pizza con mortadella and roasted chickens that I enjoyed at least three times a week for two years. But the omnivore in me will rejoice at the roasted vegetables and vegetable-topped pizzas that now fill Panificio’s case. And Bonci hasn’t given up animals fats altogether. There are still plenty of butter-laden sweets to be had (a preview below) without a drop of margarine in site. How how many Roman bakeries can say that?

Stay tuned for more news from Panificio Bonci, coming soon.