Facts About Italian Food: Interesting Italy Food Facts
Here is our collection of facts about Italian food. If you just love Italy or are planning a vacation there then these Italy food facts deserve your attention.
Italians serve bread with olive oil
They like to dip bread in the oil. Italians call this a “Scarpetta”. It means “a tiny shoe” in Italian. This name comes after the shape that you hold the bread in when you dip your bread in olive oil. Bread does not come free at a restaurant in Italy. You pay for your bread, it’s a service charge.
Breakfast is not the most important meal of the day in Italy
People from many countries of the world believe that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But Italians don’t think so. Breakfast is the least important and actually the smallest meal of the day in Italy. Italians, especially those who work, have their breakfast on the go. Sometimes, they eat it while standing at a bar. Because Italian breakfast is usually a little pastry with espresso. Italians don’t eat hot dishes for breakfast, like eggs, bacon, sausages, pancakes. They also don’t eat that much for breakfast. You can expect to eat a hot breakfast in international hotels only. Also, dinner begins later in the day than in many other parts of the world. So sometimes you can see empty restaurants at your usual dinner time.
Facts about Italian food: Italians order at least four courses for dinner at a restaurant
The first course is light on the palate. Such as a fennel salad or the Caprese salad made of fresh tomato slices, mozzarella or burrata cheese, and fresh basil. This is a nice and refreshing starter. Another popular appetizer is a simple toasted sliced bread named crostini with pureed white bean paste. After you’ve eaten the light starter dishes you can begin the second course.
The second course is actually the primo course or the “first course” in Italian. This is usually pasta. The best Italian restaurants make their own fresh pasta from scratch rather than buying dry pasta from a supermarket. The most popular pasta sauce is the classic tomato sauce with Parmesan cheese. The pasta shapes that go best with the tomato sauce are penne and linguine.
Another traditional pasta sauce is Carbonara. It’s a creamy sauce with eggs, bacon, and parmesan. There is no cream or milk in Carbonara sauce. It often comes with long types of pasta, such as spaghetti, tagliatelle or fettuccine.
Another interesting pasta dish is black linguine colored with squid ink. It comes with various kinds of seafood and tomato sauce. Parmesan is not a typical ingredient of seafood pasta.
The third course is usually something substantial like a steak or other meat, or fish, or poultry. The meal finishes with something sweet and a cup of espresso. Italians love their desserts. For example, a popular choice is Tiramisu, a simple no-bake cake. You can make it of espresso-soaked ladyfingers with mascarpone cream, and sprinkle it with cocoa.
Latte is not a type of coffee in Italy
Another piece from our collection of surprising facts about Italian food. If you order a cup of latte in an Italian restaurant you’ll get a cup of milk because “latte” means milk in Italian. They usually drink only espresso or lungo. You can order a macchiato, which is a bit of milk foam on your espresso. While cappuccino is only acceptable for breakfast. Italians never drink it in the afternoon.
Italy food facts: There are no meatballs on spaghetti in Italy
Spaghetti with meatballs is an American invention. This is the version of Italian cuisine that Italian immigrants brought to the USA. Italians do eat meatballs, but not together with spaghetti.
Pizza with pineapple doesn’t exist in Italy
One of the most surprising Italy food facts is that the highly controversial type of pizza with pieces of pineapple that we call Hawaiian, of course, doesn’t even exist in Italy. Nor does it come from Hawaii. Canadians are the ones who invented this kind of pizza.
Italians have some rules for eating pasta
When you eat long pasta such as spaghetti you should never cut it. Italians never break long pasta before cooking either. Italians only cut pasta for small kids who are just starting to learn to eat on their own. If you struggle with eating long pasta simply order short kinds of pasta instead of spaghetti when eating out in Italy, so you don’t have to cut it. And please never put ketchup or mayonnaise over your pasta. Pasta in Italy already comes with sauce, and an extra layer of sauce would be too much.
Italians drink wine with their dinner but not water
You’d better order some wine rather than a bottle of mineral water with your dinner in Italy. Italians believe that this is better for your health.
Italians may spend many hours dining that’s why waiters seem to be not too attentive in Italy
Some people believe that waiters in Italy don’t pay you as much attention as in some other parts of the world. In fact, they are not ignoring their customers. In Italy, people love to spend many hours chatting after dinner. And bothering them or bringing them their check before they have asked for it is considered a very rude behavior for a waiter at a restaurant. Italians think the waiter wants to kick them out if h brings them their check too early.
Sometimes Italian people begin their dinner at about 8 pm and finish their meal and their conversation with friends somewhere before 2 am. So waiters just want people to have a good time and don’t want to bother them. You have to ask for your check in Italy.
Thank you for reading this collection of facts about Italian food. You can find some more info on this subject in the article about Italy food facts on the Quiz Games fun facts website.
