A guide to the most delicious food on earth

What is Italian Food?

There really isn’t “Italian Food.” Italian cuisine is

extremely localized and regional. What you

will find in Italy instead is, Roman food, Tuscan

food, Umbrian food etc.

Italians tend to identify first with the town where they are from. From where their bell tower – campanilio - is.

Then the region of the country and only then as Italian.

Campanilismo

. Chicken parmesan, spaghetti and meatballs

and pasta Alfredo are Italian-American

inventions. You will not find any of these on a

menu in Italy.

photo credit: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/

At the pizzeria in Italy, there is are no stuffed

crusts or pineapple toppings and if you order

pepperoni you will find bell peppers on top of

your pizza pie.

What you see is what you get

There is no mixing, matching and making of

your own pizza combination. The combinations

you see on the pizza menu are the

combinations that are available.

The pasta shape and sauce is also long bound

by tradition, with certain types and shapes of

pasta known for complementing each other.

There are over 450 pasta shapes in Italy and

almost as many types of sauce.

On many American restaurant tables, you find

olive oil and balsamic

vinegar for mixing and

bread dipping.

Oil and Vinegar

The only place that you will find olive and vinegar

together in Italy is on

your salad, which is

pretty much the only

salad dressing choice.

If you are visiting Italy in the autumn, during the

olive oil harvest, you may be lucky and get to

taste the new oil on toasted bread that has

been drizzled with the

sharp, green oil and

a little bit of salt.

If you would like some type of a bread appetizer

ask for bruschetta – pronounced as bru-SKETT-

a - and you will get

toasted bread with chopped

tomatoes or pate or truffles,

depending on the region you

are visiting.

Your pasta is not undercooked. It was cooked

that way on purpose. Italians cook their pasta to

a perfect consistency, called

al dente – to the tooth.

Al Dente

It has a bit of a bite, it should not have a crunch,

just a slight firmness. Cooked al dente, pasta

contains less starch than rice! This is one of the

many secrets to how Italians eat pasta almost

every day and

still stay slim.

Take note that marinara sauce in Italy usually

means it contains seafood.

We have talked about the regionality of food, it is

also important know what is in season.

Food is Seasonal

Walk through a local vegetable market and take

note of what you see for sale.

Only those items are what

should be on your

restaurant menu. That

means no juicy strawberries

in November or tart

clementines in August.

Italians enjoy the bounty

that each season brings.

For more information about travel to Italy,

visit our website www.touritalynow.com or call our travel experts

at 800.955.4418.