5 Italian dishes you will never find in Italy

We Italians take food very seriously.

Way too seriously, to be honest. We think that our cuisine is the best in the world. When we come home from holidays abroad, we always complain about the way we ate there – no matter where we have been.

We can’t understand how people live without eating homemade pasta. We simply can’t imagine a world without focaccia or pesto or wood-fired pizza. We think we know everything about the perfect way of preparing food and can spend hours discussing the proper way of preparing a certain kind of recipe.

With only a few exceptions, we know nothing about other cuisines. Thai food? Never heard of. Japanese? Do they eat something different from sushi there? Chinese? Well, they cook rats and dogs, I’d never eat Chinese. And I can go on, with endless examples.

As a matter of fact, even if you are curious about other types of food, it is pretty difficult to try them here. If you live in a big city, you surely have lots of opportunities, but if you live in a small country village, the most exotic food you can find is some Turkish kebab in a take-away place.

I grew up in a very small town and I had never eaten something different from Italian food until I was probably 20 or something. Since then, I have learned a lot about food and I am really curious about all kinds of cuisines. I love Mexican, Japanese, Indian, Thai Food and I have just recently discovered Cambodian food, which is amazing.

However, the first time I went to the States, many years ago, I was still the kind of “stereotyped Italian tourist” and couldn’t help but look for my daily Italian food fix.

This was a quite an adventure, which gave me the tremendous opportunity of getting to know the Italian-American cuisine – something totally different from the food we are used to in Italy. Italian-American is a cuisine on its own, with its own rules and recipes, which you won’t anywhere find in Italy.

Therefore, if it is your first time in Italy, be prepared. I’ve made a list of some of the things you’ll never find in a restaurant here.

1. Bread and butter.

This is a real pity, I know. It’s so nice to get some butter to spread on your bread, while waiting for your food to arrive. Forget about it, it won’t happen. You’ll be served a basket with some plain bread and some breadsticks to accompany your meal. No butter, I’m sorry. If you are really lucky though, sometimes you can get some great extra-virgin olive oil – delicious!

2. Garlic bread and everything garlic.

Garlic and I do not get along very well, I have to admit it. This is probably why, if I think of Italian-American cuisine, garlic is what immediately comes to my mind. I remember asking for a pizza Margherita – which should be just tomato, mozzarella and basil – and getting it completely covered in garlic. I was slightly shocked, to be honest. We use garlic, just not everywhere. And no garlic bread in restaurants. You can probably find it in supermarkets – if you really can’t live without it.

3. Fettuccine Alfredo.

The first time I saw Fettuccine Alfredo in an Italian place in the USA, I thought it was a typical dish of that specific restaurant. Maybe the owner’s name was Alfredo, I thought. But then I kept on seeing it in every Italian restaurant I visited and I began wondering what it was.

I tasted it and it seemed to me a recipe of its own, not just the American version of an Italian dish. I did some research about it and found out – much to my surprise – that it was born in Rome, where you can still find the restaurant that invented it. It is called Alfredo alla Scrofa and is probably the only place where you can have Fettuccine Alfredo in Italy.

4. Spaghetti Meatballs.

This is one of the most famous Italian-American dishes, isn’t it? Well, you won’t find it here, at least not in restaurants.  Some people might prepare them at home, but you’ll surely never be served them in a restaurant. Spaghetti are usually served with other kinds of sauces, while meatballs (polpette) are served as a second course – usually with a side dish.

5. Ice cubes in your drinks.

This is not exactly a dish and doesn’t even have anything to do with Italian food, but it is worth mentioning. One of the most annoying things for Italians when in the US is getting all drinks either ice-cold or completely filled with ice cubes. If you forget to say “No ice, please”, you’re doomed. Here in Italy, it is common for the waiter to ask whether you want your drink with ice and lemon or not – unless you are in a bar and are ordering a cocktail, of course.

I’d love to hear your opinion, now! If you have already been to Italy, what was your experience with Italian restaurants?