Our guide on the Details About Italian Food that foreigners can’t understand.
Italian cuisine is world-famous for its delicious flavors and regional variety, but there are some nuances that foreigners often find surprising or hard to understand. The rules and customs around how Italians eat, prepare, and enjoy their food are deeply rooted in tradition and culture.
Italy’s food culture is filled with traditions that reflect its rich culinary history. By understanding these cultural nuances, you’ll not only avoid misunderstandings but also gain a deeper appreciation for Italian cuisine.
Whether it’s eating pasta as a first course or understanding when to use cheese, embracing these customs will help you enjoy a more authentic dining experience in Italy.
Here are some of the key aspects of Italian food culture that might be confusing for outsiders.
Read Here Things to know before visiting Italy and how to buy a sim card in Italy
Read here the best Italian food, vegetarian food in Italy, best drinks in Italy and best breakfast in Italy
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Details About Italian Food
1. The Importance of Regional Cuisine
What’s Confusing: Italian food is often seen as one cohesive cuisine, but in reality, it’s highly regional. Dishes, ingredients, and even cooking techniques can vary drastically between regions.
Why It Matters: Italy has 20 different regions, and each one has its own distinct culinary traditions based on geography, climate, and history. For example:
In Tuscany, you’ll find hearty dishes like bistecca alla fiorentina (Florentine steak) and ribollita (vegetable soup).
In Sicily, dishes often feature seafood, eggplant, and citrus, such as caponata or pasta alla norma.
In Northern Italy, butter and risotto are more common, while in the south, olive oil and pasta dominate.
What to Do: When traveling in Italy, embrace the local specialties and avoid expecting to find the same dishes throughout the country. For example, don’t expect to find carbonara in every restaurant outside of Rome or pesto in places other than Liguria.
Read here North Italy vs South Italy
2. Pasta Is a First Course, Not a Main Dish
What’s Confusing: Many foreigners expect pasta to be the centerpiece of an Italian meal, but in Italy, pasta is usually served as a primo piatto (first course), followed by the secondo piatto (main course), which is typically meat or fish.
Why It Matters: Italian meals are structured with a clear order:
Antipasto (appetizer): Often light, such as bruschetta or prosciutto with melon.
Primo piatto (first course): Usually a pasta, risotto, or soup dish.
Secondo piatto (main course): A protein dish like meat, fish, or poultry.
Contorno (side dish): Vegetables served alongside the main course.
Dolce (dessert): Something sweet like tiramisu or panna cotta.
What to Do: Don’t treat pasta as the entire meal; it’s meant to be just one part of a multi-course dining experience. If you’re not hungry enough for all courses, it’s perfectly fine to order just a primo or secondo.
3. Using Pasta Sauce the Right Way
What’s Confusing: Foreigners often drown their pasta in sauce, but in Italy, the sauce is seen as a complement to the pasta rather than the main feature. The balance between pasta and sauce is essential.
Why It Matters: Italians believe in “less is more” when it comes to sauce. The sauce should coat the pasta lightly and evenly, allowing the flavor of the pasta itself to shine through.
Pasta types are carefully chosen based on the type of sauce. For example, spaghetti is used for lighter, smoother sauces, while rigatoni or penne are ideal for heartier, chunky sauces.
What to Do: Don’t over-sauce your pasta. When serving pasta, aim for a light, even coating of sauce, and remember that the pasta should always be the star of the dish, not buried in sauce.
4. No Cappuccino After 11 AM
What’s Confusing: In Italy, drinking a cappuccino after breakfast is seen as unusual, but many foreigners enjoy a creamy coffee throughout the day.
Why It Matters: Italians view cappuccino, with its milk content, as a morning-only drink because it’s considered too heavy to consume after a meal. After breakfast, Italians switch to espresso for the rest of the day.
What to Do: If you want to blend in, order a cappuccino in the morning and switch to espresso or macchiato (espresso with a splash of milk) in the afternoon or after meals.
5. Breaking Pasta Is a Big No-No
What’s Confusing: Many people, especially outside Italy, break long pasta like spaghetti or linguine to fit it in the pot. In Italy, this is almost sacrilegious!
Why It Matters: Long pasta is designed to be twirled on your fork and should remain intact when cooked. Breaking it changes the texture and the way the sauce clings to the pasta.
What to Do: Boil the pasta whole, even if it sticks out of the pot at first. As the pasta softens, it will sink into the water, and you can stir it gently.
6. The Bread Isn’t for Dipping in Oil
What’s Confusing: Many foreigners expect bread to be served with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping, but this is not a traditional Italian practice.
Why It Matters: In Italy, bread is often served as an accompaniment to soak up sauces from your main dish, but it’s not meant to be dipped in oil or vinegar before the meal.
What to Do: Use bread to accompany your meal, especially to mop up sauce from your pasta or main course, but don’t expect it to be served with olive oil for dipping. It’s also common to eat bread plain alongside the contorno (vegetable side dishes).
7. Cheese Doesn’t Belong on Every Dish
What’s Confusing: While foreigners may want to sprinkle Parmesan or pecorino cheese on almost every pasta dish, Italians are strict about when cheese is appropriate.
Why It Matters: Certain pasta dishes, especially seafood-based ones like spaghetti alle vongole (spaghetti with clams), should never be topped with cheese because it can overpower the delicate flavors.
In many traditional dishes, such as carbonara or cacio e pepe, specific cheeses like Pecorino Romano are used for their distinct flavors, and adding extra cheese can alter the intended taste.
What to Do: If you’re unsure whether cheese is appropriate, follow the lead of the locals. Don’t automatically add cheese to every dish; in many cases, it’s considered unnecessary or even offensive.
8. Pizza Culture Is Different
What’s Confusing: Foreigners may expect pizzas to be large, heavily topped, and served with dipping sauces, but in Italy, pizza is lighter, simpler, and often individual-sized.
Why It Matters: Italian pizza is all about balance, with a thin, crisp crust and fresh, high-quality ingredients like mozzarella, tomato sauce, and basil. Toppings are used sparingly to enhance, not overwhelm, the pizza.
Italians typically don’t share pizzas; they eat a whole pizza by themselves as a meal.
Dipping pizza in sauces, especially ranch or garlic butter, is unheard of in Italy.
What to Do: Order your own pizza and enjoy the simplicity of the toppings. Don’t expect dipping sauces or overloaded pizzas, and savor the fresh flavors of traditional Italian ingredients.
9. Salad Comes After the Main Course
What’s Confusing: In many countries, salad is eaten as a starter or alongside the main course. In Italy, however, salad is typically served after the main course as a way to cleanse the palate.
Why It Matters: Italians believe that eating salad after the main meal aids digestion and provides a refreshing end to the savory portion of the meal.
What to Do: If a salad is served, enjoy it after your main course, not before. It’s meant to be a light, palate-cleansing part of the meal rather than a starter.
10. Wine and Water, Never Soda
What’s Confusing: Many foreigners are used to drinking soda or beer with their meals, but in Italy, meals are usually accompanied by wine or water.
Why It Matters: Italians take their meals seriously, and wine is considered the best complement to food. It enhances the flavors of the dish and is a key part of the Italian dining experience. Soda or soft drinks are generally reserved for children or informal occasions.
What to Do: If you want to enjoy a meal like an Italian, pair your food with a glass of local wine or water. Sparkling or still water is often offered at restaurants.
About the Author: Ruben, co-founder of Gamintraveler.com since 2014, is a seasoned traveler from Spain who has explored over 100 countries since 2009. Known for his extensive travel adventures across South America, Europe, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, and Africa, Ruben combines his passion for adventurous yet sustainable living with his love for cycling, highlighted by his remarkable 5-month bicycle journey from Spain to Norway. He currently resides in Spain, where he continues sharing his travel experiences with his partner, Rachel, and their son, Han.