If a Roman is nasty or cranky to you, just know there is a good chance they are constipated. Vegetables, once the anchor of the local diet, have been phased out in favor of carb- and meat-heavy diets. But that’s where verdure ripassate can come in. Literally “re-passed greens,” this approach is the city’s canonical way of cooking leafy things. The method is simple: Blanch your chicory (or chard or broccoletti) until tender, then sauté it in olive oil with garlic and a touch of peperoncino until the greens in question are hammered and soft and unidentifiable.

The double-cook is essential. It softens the greens’ tough stems and coaxes out that earthy, slightly bitter flavor Romans crave. I like using wild chicory when I can get it, the kind that practically bites back, barely tamed by oil and heat. Fiber deprivation issues solved.