Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr Winston O Boogie jr
It's surprising how different food is in Italy.
I guess my point is that we have restaurants in this country that are owned by people who have come from Italy yet the food is very different than what they have over there. I am wondering why.
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Absolutely agree. There are regional differences. In Tuscany, pasta is the star of the dish, not to be drowned out by the additional ingredients. Most Italian food in the U.S. emanated from immigrants from southern Italy and Sicily. They cooked with what they could find which wasn't exactly what they found back in the Old World. Restaurants further devolved the recipes to appeal to Americans of UK and Northern European descent. And that's why we have cheese and sauce laden "Italian" here today.
Pizza is a perfect example. In Napoli, pizza is a simple thin crust, some olive oil, tomatoes, maybe a meat, pieces of mozzarella (Never shredded) and a little fresh tomato sauce. Here, when the GI's brought back the love for pizza after WWII, we've made it into a calorie laden cheese and meat loaded, diet disaster - Not that there's anything wrong with that! Some of the best pizza I've ever had was at Ristorante Andrea in Amalfi. Tutto Bene!