A Higher Power

In the beginning, there was the edible. And it was not good

The communion wafer has been delivering transcendence reliably for over two thousand years. Small. Precise. Dissolves on the tongue. No aftertaste. Building over time towards a lifetime of spiritual advancement.

The Church, in this respect, was onto something.

But these days, who has the time? We want our meals fast, our downloads faster and our packages delivered same-day.  As for transcendence…what about 12-15 minutes?

Mammamia’s ROMA Communion Wafers are essentially the same as the original.  They are made from wheat flour and water, same as the original. And like the original, Mammamia’s wafers are light, dry, neutral on the palate, and they dissolve on the tongue.

The only difference is a drop of a third ingredient: 5mg of hemp-derived Delta-9 THC. 

In creating ROMA, I was simply continuing the Church’s good work.

And yes, before you ask — I am Catholic. Born and raised in Salerno, Italy. I went to church my whole life, confirmed at fourteen, the whole thing. I have sat in churches that were older than the United States. I have received communion from priests who took the ritual very, very seriously.

Which is exactly why I understood, immediately, that this was the right format.

On the theological question

I have thought about this more than a Catholic chef who moved to Los Angeles to make edibles probably should. And here is where I have landed:

Every major spiritual tradition has understood that the body needs a ritual object to mark the transition between the ordinary and the elevated. The wine. The incense. The fast followed by the feast. The small thing placed on the tongue that says: something is about to shift, pay attention.

ROMA is that object. Just faster, more precise, and available without a Sunday morning commitment.

I am not saying ROMA will bring you closer to God. I am also not not saying that. What I am saying is that as a man who grew up with genuine reverence for the ritual, who trained in one of Italy's most serious culinary institutions, who has cooked for people on three continents and understands something about what it means to feed a person well, I made this product with the same intention the Church brought to its version.

The intention of elevation. Of presence. Of being, for a moment, somewhere slightly better than where you were before.

Take one of my wafers and, approximately twelve to fifteen minutes later, the world gets a little warmer. The conversation gets a little better. The music reveals its true meaning. The person across the table from you becomes, if possible, more interesting than they already were.

If that is not a higher plane, I don't know what to call it.

What ROMA actually does - a practical guide for the spiritually curious

ROMA Holy Wafers use nano-emulsified hemp-derived Delta-9 THC — particles small enough to absorb directly in the mouth, bypassing the digestive system that makes standard gummies so stubbornly slow. Research published in the National Library of Medicine confirms what the format delivers: faster, more consistent absorption and a more predictable onset than conventional edibles.

The result: 12 to 15 minutes to lift. Clean, uplifting, social. No hangover. No moment two hours later where you wonder if you made a mistake.

One wafer is the aperitivo that arrived fashionably late. Two wafers is a committed act of faith. I say this as someone who has tested the limits personally.

All ROMA products are federally compliant hemp-derived THC edibles under the 2018 Farm Bill, third-party lab tested, and made from two ingredients your grandmother would recognize.

New to fast-acting hemp edibles? The MAMMAMIA FAQ has answers to the practical questions. For the theological ones, you're on your own.

The confessional

When ROMA launched, the reviews arrived like a congregation finding its pew. "Now THAT would get me back to mass." "Makes me wanna go to church. I'm not, but it makes me want to." "Bro I'm Jewish but I'd convert for these."

Here is what I know: ROMA exists because the edible industry spent thirty years making a product that was functional, occasionally, if you planned around it, and never once asked whether the experience of taking it could itself be beautiful. Whether the format could be a joke and a ritual simultaneously. Whether something could be irreverent and intentional in the same breath.

The answer, it turns out, is yes. The Catholics knew this too. They built entire cathedrals around the idea.

I made a wafer. Same spirit. Faster onset. Slightly less guilt.

Go in peace.