Italian dishes you will never ever get in Italy
Although Italian cuisine is famous worldwide, there are plenty of dishes that are often considered Italian but are rarely or never eaten in Italy itself. Take caprese on a stick: a true Dutch summer hit. Lasagne with spinach and salmon is another classic. And do you also love curling up on the sofa with some mac ‘n cheese on a dreary day? Then be glad you live in the Netherlands. Because these dishes never make it onto the table in Italy.
Did you think you had put a beautiful Italian dish on the table with your spaghetti bolognese? Think again: ‘our’ quick spaghetti bolognese is not the same as the ragù alla bolognese you eat in Italy. It doesn’t even look like it. In Bologna, they truly never eat the famous sauce named after their city with spaghetti. Hold on tight, there is much more fake Italian food coming your way.
Authentic Italian dishes
Many of these dishes are popular creations that originated in Italian-American communities and have their own value and place in the world of food. And they are certainly delicious. They just aren’t representative of traditional Italian cuisine.
Mac ‘n cheese and crazy lasagne
Let’s start simply. Spaghetti & meatballs? Although Italians make meatballs (polpette), these are usually served as a separate dish and not with spaghetti. Mac ‘n cheese? Just as Italian as it sounds. Moreover, this latter American comfort food insults one of the most important principles of Italian cuisine: paying close attention to ingredients. The popular version in the US comes from a packet. There are also many lasagnes around that aren’t all equally Italian. With salmon, salami or vegetables… the real Italian version has meat and a thick layer of béchamel.
Hawaiian Pizza and Pepperoni Pizza
For pizza with pineapple, or worse: with kiwi, you should go to Dr. Oetker, and for pizzas with a crust like an air mattress, head to Texas. In neither case should you go to Naples—the birthplace of the best pizzas in the world. Pizza Pepperoni, topped with slices of spicy salami, isn’t Italian either. In Italy, ‘peperoni’ means bell peppers. The Italian counterpart would be ‘pizza diavola’, which is topped with spicy salami, but this is not the same as the American Pizza Pepperoni.
Remarkably enough, pizza with fries is Italian. In Naples, they really won’t look at you strangely if you order a pizza patatine e würstel, in other words pizza with fries and a kind of large frankfurter in slices. And to drive Italians completely crazy, one bona fide Italian pizzeria sells—hold on tight—sushipizza. At Pizzeria La Fenice, in Pistoia, Italy, Uramaki Pizza Fusion is seriously on the menu—and as the name suggests, it is indeed a combination of pizza and sushi.
Pasta Alfredo
But where can you order Pasta Alfredo? Well, not in Italy. Alfredo’s origins do lie in Italy. Chef Alfredo served the dish in his trattoria in Rome to two American Hollywood stars. They were ecstatic about it and took ‘Alfredo’ back to the US, where the dish became huge. Italians do know a similar dish under the name ‘burro e parmigiano’. Butter and Parmesan cheese—simply what it is, without cream. And if you order ‘Fettuccine Alfredo’ in Italy, they will understand you, but don’t expect the creamy American version.
Chicken Parmesan
Chicken Parmesan, or fried chicken fillet covered with tomato sauce and melted cheese, often served with pasta: another hit in the US. Although Melanzane alla Parmigiana is an authentic Italian dish, chicken prepared this way is rarely served in Italy. Pasta with chicken pesto sauce isn’t really Italian either. Italians simply aren’t big on the chicken-and-pasta combination.
Italian dressing
Do you see ‘Italian dressing’ on the menu? Or ‘Italian dressing’ in the supermarket? Then it’s a vinaigrette made with oil, vinegar and herbs. Nothing Italian about it; in Italy, salad is usually simply drizzled with olive oil and vinegar or lemon juice. And that basket of bread on the table? It’s not there to be devoured before the meal; it’s there to wipe the floor of your empty plate clean. Italians have a beautiful word for it: Fare la scarpetta. The expression literally translates as ‘to make the little shoe’, with the sweeping motion of the bread symbolizing a shoe moving across the ground. That’s what that bread is meant for.
Limoncello tiramisu
And getting creative with tiramisu isn’t appreciated in Italy either. If you experiment with the famous Italian dessert classic tiramisu (with limoncello, fruit or almond cookies), you can expect an acute fit of rage from Italian chefs.
To throw Italian conventions out the window
As far as I’m concerned, cooking is about freestyling, and if something produces really delicious dishes, go for it. Your home, your kitchen, your taste. So go ahead and make those crazy fusion dishes, and leave the Italians out of it. This is simply the best bolognese sauce and this Vegan pink pasta is not only delicious but also looks wonderfully cheerful. And it can get even wilder. Just try this Pasta à la vodka or this Dirty Martini pasta. Success guaranteed!
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