Is the “Italian” Food we Know Truly Italian?

By: Mia Parker

Close your eyes and picture an Italian restaurant. I can probably guess what comes to your mind: spaghetti and meatballs, chicken alfredo fettuccine, and a thick, cheesy pizza with every topping imaginable.

You would find none of these items in a traditional restaurant in Italy.

Italian food in the US has been adapted to Americans’ tastes, and it has also been shaped from years of Italian immigrants using the ingredients that were the most accessible to them. Spaghetti and meatballs was actually created in America, not Italy.

In Italy, lunch and dinner are normally the biggest meals, and they typically consist of three courses: primo, secondo, and contorno.

Primo is mainly pasta, and it is only the start to the meal. The most typical Italian pastas are carbonara, amatriciana, or just a simple noodle with tomato sauce. There is no alfredo sauce or big chunks of meat in the pasta. It is simple and uses minimal ingredients. Because of this, it is much less filling than a portion of American pasta.

Carbonara, one of the most quintessential Italian pasta dishes, is made up of noodles, egg yolks, tiny pieces of pancetta (similar to bacon), and pecorino cheese. That’s all.

Secondo is usually a meat or fish dish, and contorno is typically a type of vegetable. Meals are spread out and enjoyed for much longer durations than those of Americans.

In a typical American Italian restaurant, it is common to receive bread sticks loaded with oil, pizza filled to the brim with grease, and pasta dishes that are anything but what the Italians would approve of.

Italian pizza is light, airy, and normally eaten without much else than tomato sauce and a thin layer of cheese. Because of this, it is true that Italians eat an entire pizza in one serving, and it is usually followed by other dishes.

For breakfast, Italians usually go to a “bar,” which is a coffee and pastry shop. They usually take an espresso and a cornetto - a type of pastry similar to a croissant, but usually filled with a type of cream, jam, or chocolate.

Before I came to Italy, I thought that I would be eating pasta with white sauce and pizza similar to that of Dominos; however, I was instead eating simple pasta with red sauce, spaghetti with nothing but olive oil and clams (spaghetti alle vongole), and meatballs only on the side.

American Italian food is nothing like authentic Italian food and how the people of Italy truly eat. It is simpler and slow-paced, which is very reflective of their culture.