Italian Food Culture

The Italian food culture concerns not only what wegreetings. When an Italian meet a friend, it's natural
see at Italian tables or in a rich Italian restaurantto "drink something together".
menu.If it happens to serve a drink to someone seat
It is something much deeper in Italians' DNA.besides you, never turn the jar or the bottle against
Italians have some beliefs that go beyond educationthe natural way of your hand. For example, if you
or tradition.have the jar in your right hand, the glass must be on
Concerning pastathe left side, never behind, on the right side of your
An easy example could be the pasta shapes andright hand. Otherwise it may not bring good luck.
their seasonings. Considering that among dry pastaMeals
(the ones you usually buy inside paper or plastic bagsIn many countries it's common to eat a salad as
that last for long) the difference is only the shape ofentrance.
it, nothing else, the shape itself is something veryNot in Italy.
important for Italians.Italians eat salad as a side plate for the second dish.
There's a traditional pasta sauce recipe from RomaNow you can find some tourist restaurants in main
region called Pasta all'amatriciana (it's a tasty saucecities that propose rich salads for the tourists...but
made with tomatoes and bacon). Usually it's servedItalians never ask for them!
using the bucatini pasta (kind of huge spaghetti withItalians respects lunch time. If you come to visit Italy
a hole in its middle). An Italian woman was disgustedand want to have lunch, pay attention to restaurants'
hearing her hairdress telling her colleague thatclosing times. Usually after 2:30pm the kitchens are all
preferred it with short pasta. She said: "Don't ask meclosed and you'll have to eat a sandwich. If an Italian
why. It just is as it is. Amatriciana must go with longis traveling outside Italy, he will probably look for a
pasta. How can one imagine of cooking it with shortrestaurant during lunch time. If he doesn't or cannot
pasta?" The same goes for pasta with oil and garlicfind one, and finds one at 3:00pm, he'll probably say
(aglio e olio), you probably will never see it servedthat is not hungry anymore, that he uses to eat at
using any other pasta that isn't spaghetti.that time otherwise he loses his hunger.
CappuccinoItalians trust their food. While most of the tourists
A lot of people around the world drink coffee andlook for local food, considering it part of the vacation,
milk. In Italy, people use to drink cappuccino - ait's very common to see Italians looking for Italian
coffee and milk with addition of milk foam.restaurants while abroad. They seem to be afraid of
All around the world people drink coffee and milknew and different food.
whenever feels like doing it. Italians will never ask forThey begin to open themselves to new food when
a cappuccino in the evening! Why? It is just as it is.go outside Italy more often and learn to appreciate
It's not time to have a cappuccino. Cappuccino is forand trust foreign cuisines.
breakfast!Other than trusting and loving their own food, Italians
Italians do not accept someone who asks ahate when people try to mix other food cultures
cappuccino after, or even worse, together withwith Italian ones. An example? Never add ketchup to
dinner. They really twist their nose when they seea pasta dish! You cannot imagine how your Italian
someone doing it.friend will stare at you if you try to do so.
DrinkingThe interesting in all these is that they don't do it for
In Italy there are bars everywhere. There are manybeing presumptuous, but they really believe you're
small cities, having about 1,500 inhabitants that havewasting your taste. Italian culture still has a lot of
about 20 bars."musts" that go with generations that just follow it
It happens because drinking in Italy is associated withwithout knowing why it is done in this or that way.