Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Tuesday, December 14. 2021

Italian cooking vs. Italian-American


In recent weeks, I have posted lots of Italian food in Italy. 


Without wanting to be a food snob (I am not a "foodie" - I like burgers and pulled pork), I need to explain again that Italian-American food is not to be found in Italy. The latter is an invention mostly by immigrants from southern Italy who were trying to make do. They used lots of pasta to fill people up, same as they did at home. Not a bad invention.


But, for example, try a pizza in Italy. Inedible. A pizza in NYC can be amazing.  


Depending on where you live in the US, "Italian" can mean entirely different things. Generally-speaking, the fancier the restaurant the better unless you love red sauce. I have made the effort to post some real Italian food here on Maggie's over recent weeks. Northern Italian I suppose. I avoid any tomato sauce. I can make southern Italian killer "pasta fazool." Even Mrs. BD says it's better than her Neapolitano grandmother used to make for her grandfather.


This does not really explain it:  Italian-American cuisine


Since we are approaching Christmas, check out our old post about Italian Christmas Eve food. Fried baccala - great. The feast of the seven fishes. I can't find my own old link right now.



Posted by Bird Dog in Food and Drink at 16:24 | Comments (12) | Trackbacks (0)

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Best pizza Ive ever had was in south of france
Best pasta Ive ever had was in north of Italy
#1 Joe B. on 2021-12-14 20:21 (Reply)
And the best pizza makers are all Greek. (In my experience) Go figure.
#1.1 KellyM on 2021-12-15 14:26 (Reply)
Back in the 1970s, my section of New England had a lot of Greek-run pizza places. There was one that, word had it, got burned down for the insurance money.
#1.1.1 Gringo on 2021-12-15 18:44 (Reply)
Frankly, you are a food nazi.
#2 bob sykes (Link) on 2021-12-14 21:59 (Reply)
Thank you for the food posts! I greatly appreciate the photos and descriptions.

I have not been to Italy but hope to get there one of these days.
#3 Ann K. on 2021-12-15 07:16 (Reply)
I love both Italian food and Italian-American variants, and eat them both with gusto, especially if scratch home-made. We have a couple of new 'authentic' Italian places that have opened up recently that we haven't tried yet, but they look pretty hoity-toity nouvelleso I'm sure we'll get around to them. Thanks for sharing your travel experiences!
#4 Aggie on 2021-12-15 09:52 (Reply)
I don't think this is exactly accurate. Prior to the tomato being available to Europeans the Italian food was indeed just as you described. However long before the huge Italian immigration to America Italian food did I need be one just like what is referred to as Italian-american food. What you experienced in Italy was "traditional" Italian food rAther than the more peasant Italian food that later morphed into Italian-American food.
#5 OneGuy on 2021-12-15 10:10 (Reply)
Good pizza depends on the cook not the country.
I have had excellent pizza in the south of Switzerland (Lugano), adjacent to Italy...
I think our eating experiences encompass more than just the items on the plate. Company, surroundings, state of mind...
#6 Earl Wertheimer (Link) on 2021-12-15 11:10 (Reply)
Dear BD.
As you know my DH has been blacklisted for 20 years now. He does get short time jobs in other countries, but our income has never become even 10% of what it should have been. We have been able to live our lives with respect and that has been worth everything. Confronting the evil in the first most liberal university was worth our self respect. Unfortunately, their values and ethics have become the norm in today's academia
and you all know now that what I was telling you was true.

HOWEVER, we have been lucky in some ways and one of those ways was to have the best pizza ever in south of France--thanks to my mom and DD making the trip possible!

For you I have one question: if we ever do get our income up to a place where we can travel to Italy would you post a list of your favorite restaurants so we can try one or two?
Finally:
I send my Best Wishes for you and yours. Your work here at MF has been a life saver for me. Dreaming of our trip to Italy by following your daily diary and that of all your journeys has been a gift--thank you.
#7 faculty wife on 2021-12-15 20:09 (Reply)
American and Italian pizza, same name different creature, I enjoy both for what they are.
#8 thud thud on 2021-12-16 16:15 (Reply)
"try a pizza in Italy. Inedible." Are you serious? I've had some amazing pizzas in Italy.
#9 Willfull Knowledge on 2021-12-16 19:24 (Reply)
me three...
#9.1 Tom Armstrong (Link) on 2021-12-19 19:13 (Reply)

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