With many of its principles distorted, Italian food becomes a caricature of itself. It needs to have olives and sun-dried tomatoes; bread must be foccacia or have flour on it and be called ciabbatta; tomato sauce, salami, olive oil, or a balsamic reductionmust be involved; there needs to be mountains of parmesan and mozza, along with a mix of 20 Mediterranean spices. If short of Italian ingredients, anything Spanish or Greek will be close enough: feta cheese, kalamata olives, even chorizo...
I understand that, just like American English has drifted from British English, Italian food in North America has evolved into its own genre. What I don't understand is when the adjective "authentic" is still used. If you serve authentic Italian food, please:- Make sure your Italian dishes exist in Italy (there is no Alfredo sauce and Spaghetti with Meatballs is extinct!)
- Check your recipes (whole garlic cloves have no business on any pizza!)
- Spell-check your menu (once and for all: it's 'prosciutto', not proscuitto, it's 'quattro formaggi', not quatro fromaggio!)
- Don't say something is "Tuscan" just to make it sound more Italian (what is the point of serving Tuscan Chicken Pasta, when nowhere in Italy will you find chicken on any pasta?)
- If you serve espresso, don't feel that you have to fill up that little coffee cup! Half-full is fine - just make sure it's creamy.
Over the course of the year, lots of discussions were had through comments, and a small but energetic group of friends has formed: Italians living abroad, Italians living in Italy, and foodies living all around the world. Thank you all - you are my source of motivation, and your feedback has been invaluable.
I also would like to thank my fiancée Candace - I owe her many of the considerations on the differences in culture between Italy and North America, and she is a fantastic editor! Thanks, Candace, also for being so patient with me as I got more and more obsessed with this project. I even wonder if this should still be called a blog... on many occasions, writing the articles has required me do quite a bit of research. But it was fun, and I learned a lot from it.
Looking forward into year two, I am hoping to get the community even more involved. I would like this blog to become a hub for discussions around authentic Italian food and a reference for anyone interested in learning more about it. But for today, I'm just going to open a good bottle of 'spumante' and celebrate making it this far!
Thanks all for reading.
