What is real Italian food after all? – Some good suggestions for Americans loving food “Italian-style”

In many big American centres such as NY, Washington, Los Angeles or Chicago there are just a few Italian restaurants that really worthy to be called Italian. In my opinion the great majority of them are not Italian at all but run by people who have never been in Italy before!

Italian pizza margherita for example is not a round piece of greasy bread topped with red-purple sauce and lot of different kind of cheeses. Italian-American food is loaded with too many toppings, sauces, a strange kind of cheese called parmesan and many “typical Italian dishes” that can be found in America are not even mentioned in any Italian cookery book.

As for example many Americans imagine the most famous plate of pasta as spaghetti with meat ball sauce.

But unfortunately no ones eat spaghetti with meat ball sauce! Of course there are many meat recipes that require laborious and hours long preparation (meat sauce in Italian is called ragù) but there are so many different pasta recipes that the meat ones are not even the most famous.

Have you ever heard about spaghetti alla carbonara or spaghetti alla chitarra? Every single region and city in Italy has its own pasta recipes. And they are really proud of them! Bucatini all’amatriciana (Latium); Pizzoccheri from Valtellina (Lonbardy), Trofie with pesto (Liguria), Orecchiette with turnip tops (Apulia), Lasagne alla bolognese and tortellini (Emilia-Romagna), Spaghetti mari e monti (Marches), and so on. To not mention the amazing number of forms, shapes and sizes of pasta that are suitable for hundreds of different of toppings and recipes.

This is the strength of Italian cuisine! Healthy food with tasty and different toppings. And remember… Italian cuisine is not just pasta and pizza!