Rome’s rapidly growing trend, “lo street food”, seems unstoppable. I’m not talking about food trucks, which really really don’t work or exist here the way the do in other cities, nor the ubiquitous pizza by the slice joints. I’m referring to a different approach to marketing food in which takeaways, cafes and restaurants peddle (relatively) inexpensive, portable snacks.

Of course, Rome has a long history of pizza by the slice, panini, supplì and other small bites that might be collectively called cibo da strada. But “lo street food” is something else–a new impulse in food production and distribution. Even its English moniker sets it apart from Rome’s established, indigenous models.

While the city’s street food movement is in full swing, even its pioneer is getting in on the action. Stefano Callegari invented the trapizzino at his pizza by the slice joint, 00100, in 2008. 00100 shuttered this past winter and reopened and rebranded under the name Trapizzino, referring to its main offering.

The name trapizzino is a play on words, combining tramezzino (a triangular sandw

A villager in Kenya was herding animals one day recently when he came upon a head-turning sight. A ghostly creature with a mighty long neck was grazing off in the distance.

Upon closer inspection, the vision was revealed to be a female reticulated giraffe — tall, majestic and preternaturally white — and she was accompanied by a smaller apparition: a pale baby giraffe.

The sightings in June, in Garissa County near the Ishaqbini Hirola Conservancy, sent the villager scurrying off to tell rangers,the founder of the Hirola Conservation Program said on Thursday. The news has been ricocheting across continents and making headlines ever since.

Conservationists who hurried to the site managed to capture what is believed to be the first known video footage of white giraffes, said Abdullahi H. Ali, who founded Hirola and has been working to conserve the critically endangered hirola antelope in the eastern part of the country.

Jaap’s tyre was not only down to the canvas, but through a couple of layers. As a result the 120km ride to Springbok was a rather tentative one. We did however arrive safely around lunchtime, and were hopeful of being able to track down a tyre for Jaap. However it was a Sunday and the day of Nelson Mandela’s funeral, and the tyre outfit was of course closed. Miraculously we met someone who knew the owner and called him for us, but less miraculously he did not hold the tyre size we needed. We spent that afternoon and the Monday phoning around trying to find some way to get a tyre to Springbok urgently. I was running out of time before my flight to NZ, and was keen to explore the back roads on the way to Cape Town, rather than having to rush down. Unfortunately locating a tyre proved difficult, and it looked as if Jaap would get his tyre on Wednesday at the earliest. As Jaap was staying longer than me in South Africa and would have time to explore after Christmas, I decided to head off for an explore with him catching up so we could hit Cape
Terminal tyreTerminal tyre
Terminal tyre
Agulhas together

Waaaay back in December 2012, I wrote a post in which I put Flavio al Velavevodetto(and few other places) on notice. That year, Flavio, a Testaccio-based restaurant specializing in traditional Roman fare, had gone from being completely satisfying to wildly inconsistent, a change that was likely linked to opening a second restaurant, Velavevodetto ai Quiriti in Prati. Service glitches and food failures became increasingly common, which isn’t unusual for a restaurant to suffer following expansion. Many readers and app users reported negative experiences–so I was concerned–but I remained optimistic that things would turn around.



Fast forward to December 2014 and Flavio al Velavevodetto has more than just rebounded. It has surpassed its earlier reputation and is one of the few places in Rome that manages to maintain an extremely high level of quality, both in its raw ingredients and its final dishes. Meat comes from the restaurant’s own herds and flocks, while seasonal vegetables are cultivated on their land in northern Lazio. Ingredients are transformed into superb Roman classics like polp

Listen to two different forms of fusion concerts that make up this year's One World Many Musics, the annual Indian contemporary music concert series organized by the National Center for the Performing Arts, on Friday October 17 and Saturday, 18 October. Stringstruck, the band-fusion classic of India headed by Purbayan Chatterjee, will be presented at the NCPA Tata Theatre on Friday, from 19:00. Chatterjee plays the DWO, amended the sitar in the band, which also features percussionist Taufiq Qureshi, surfer Fazal Qureshi, Manas Chakrabarty bassist, keyboardist Atul Raninga, Tapas and oud player and guitarist Sanjoy Das rabab. Assamese folk-fusion band singer Papon and the East India Company will perform at the same venue on Saturday from 19:00. Tickets are priced at 300 rupees, 600 rupees and 900 per head each day. National Center for the Performing Arts, NCPA Marg, Nariman Point. Tel: 2282 022 4567.

• Move to the next heartbeat, the series of concerts organized by electronic Bhavishyavani Future Soundz in Bonobo, on Friday, October 17, at 22:00. Troja aka Roy and own Spacejams Trideep BFS aka Yohann J