My buddy Ethan is a good guy to know when you’re bopping around Italy, looking for good things to eat. He knew just where to take us in Bologna, what to recommend in Tuscany and he sent a rather detailed “foodspotting” google map of Rome a few weeks before I arrived there. Under “EAT” he had scribbled “Supplizio – street food, high quality,” and this caught my attention on Day 1. Street food in Italy? Snacks? Yes.

Supplì are typical Roman things – balls of rice flavored with different ingredients, dipped in raw egg, coated in breadcrumbs and fried to a golden brown crunch. They’re similar to Sicilian arancini, although the latter tend to be larger in size and they traditionally do not contain cheese while supplì do. I’m pretty sure that the fillings for both have changed over the years to appeal to a wider range of snackers. Suffice it to say, I didn’t find any supplì with chicken giblets (the classic Roman recipe).