Pecorino Romano, a version originating in the Lazio region near Rome (hence the name “Romano”), is the cheese that defines Italian cuisine. It is lighter, drier and saltier than other varieties of pecorino and binds many Italian dishes such as cacio e pepe, pasta carbonara and bucatini all’amatriciana (a typical Roman dish made with pasta, pork cheek and tomatoes). It is seasoned for up to two years and is delicious with a dab of honey and a glass of wine. And it has existed in Italy for 2,000 years.
During the Roman Republic (508-27 BCE), shepherds had to do something with their excess sheep’s milk and so they made what is Pecorino Romano. The famous agricultural writer of the Roman Empire, Lucio Moderato Columella, wrote about what appeared to be Pecorino Romano in 50 CE in De Re Rustica. It turns out that Pecorino Romano was an ideal food for Roman armies because it had a longer shelf life than many soldiers. In the Middle Ages, people started adding salt to Pecorino Romano and found that it helped preserve the cheese. Soon it spread beyond the Italian peninsula.
The Pecorino Romano has survived the fall of the Roman Empire, earthquakes and fascism.
“Pecorino Romano is like a Roman soldier,” said Rome-based food writer Rachel Alice Roddy. “It’s supposed to be a working cheese.”
Despite its name, the Pecorino Romano is widely sold because it is mainly used in home cooking. This mass-produced version, affordable and readily available in supermarkets across Italy, not only survived Covid, but it thrived. During lockdowns in Italy, families stocked up. Indeed, sales increased during Covid, from 26,940 tonnes sold in 2019 to 34,280 last year.
Artisanal pecorinos, meanwhile, nearly became another casualty of Covid when restaurants and public markets closed, and producers wondered what they would do if factories full of cheese quickly deteriorated. And so, they resorted to door-to-door selling. They grew their own corn to combat the rising cost of sheep feed. And they buried it in caves to keep it for a later date.
