Italians see no problem with pizza for lunch; having Bolognese sauce with spaghetti; eating pizza with a fork rather than your hands and having meatballs with spaghetti.
Found to be divisive: having risotto as an appetiser or side dish; putting oil in the water you are cooking your pasta in; snapping dry spaghetti before boiling it and adding plain pasta to a plate or bowl and then adding the sauce afterwards.
But 11 culinary concepts from the list are judged by Italians to be crimes against their national cuisine.
The most distressing abuse of Italian food is having ketchup with pasta, one of only two food crimes from the list that Americans also say is unacceptable.
Putting pasta in cold water and then boiling it is the second biggest violation of Italian cuisine, followed by pineapple on a pizza.
Other practices that are frowned upon in Italy but generally accepted everywhere else are having pasta as a side dish; rinsing or cooling off cooked pasta under cold water; drinking cappuccino after an Italian meal; and having garlic bread with a pasta meal.
Gotta say I don’t do most of these things but I do love garlic bread with pasta.
Its strange to see garlic bread feature in so many social media pics of Italian food (and on UK and US Italian restaurant menus) when it isn’t really a thing here!
Haha! When my husband (who is Italian) and I started dating he almost had a heart attack when I snapped spaghetti in half before boiling it. I still occasionally suggest doing so just to see the expression on his face!
Whoops!
I think I knew most of these except the garlic bread issue. However, the food in Italy is so amazing I would never miss the bread. Do you not serve it at all or just not with a meal?
Bread, yes. We buy fresh bread once or sometimes twice a day and always have it with our meal. The bread from Altamura in Puglia is especially good. But garlic bread we have only seen in Italian restaurants in other countries, and as a frozen food in their supermarkets.
Most of those sound ridiculous. There are people who eat pasta with ketchup?! No thanks. I’m gonna have to stand firm with garlic bread and pasta, though! Is it not normal to have any type of bread?
Bread yes, but the garlic bread seems to be an invention. The bread from Altamura is amazing. We have many panificio with wood burning ovens where all types of bread are baked daily, and not just bread. Our bakers make cookies and the focaccia bread. Focaccia barese looks like a deep pan pizza but is not. All fresh baked daily from the baker, it is a big part of our culture.