The Etiquette of Italian Cooking

Here’s an interesting set of articles I found on “The Independent” and “Daily Mail” websites talking about certain etiquettes when dealing with Italian food.

Ketchup on your pasta? Basta! Italian food institute issues a list of rules for foreigners to follow

James Hanning

Sunday 08 September 2013

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We've all committed them, but now, at last, we have no excuses. A respected food institute has listed those culinary no-nos that make Italians wince inwardly but which they are too polite to tell you about. The Parma-based Academia Barilla, which aims "to defend and safeguard Italian food products made by reputable artisans and certified denominations against poor-quality imitations", has listed ten kitchen faux pas, in order to "teach foreigners how to avoid culinary horrors" in confronting Italian food.

So now, we can be free of that feeling that the waiter is laughing up his sleeve at us. The list is compiled with a degree of self-mockery and lacks the seriousness of, say, the Académie française's strictures on the French language. Nonetheless, that's us put in our place. The rules are as follows:

* Never, ever, sip a cappuccino during a meal. (Espresso) coffee and cappuccino are Italy's pride. The first is to be consumed after a meal, and a cappuccino is for breakfast, ideally with something sweet. You can order a one after a meal but you should know an Italian would never do so.

* Risotto and pasta are not meant to accompany other dishes (apart from specialities such as l'Ossobuco alla milanese). Pasta served as if it were a veg is "a mistake committed in many other countries, but in Italy is considered sacrilegious". Gennaro Contaldo, author of several books on Italian food and Jamie Oliver's mentor, agrees. He told The IoS: "I used to see this combination of everything on a plate in Italian restaurants in the Seventies when I first came to England – I'm glad to say this has died out."

* Don't put oil in the pasta water. Any addition should be made after the pasta has been cooked.

* Ketchup on pasta. This really shocks Italians. Barilla calls it "a true culinary sin". Contaldo agrees: "I do like good ketchup, but only with chips."

* Spaghetti Bolognese? No! Probably Italy's most famous dish, yet there isn't a restaurant in Bologna that serves it. The famous sauce is traditionally cooked with tagliatelle, not spaghetti. But Contaldo thinks the report is a bit picky. Where he is from, near Naples, spaghetti is fine, though what we call "Bolognese" is generally simpler and less of a "soup" of ingredients.

* Pasta with chicken – never in Italy. Americans regard this as "typically Italian", says the report, "but we have to tell you: no one in Italy would serve such a dish". The nearest, says a conciliatory Contaldo, is chicken broth which is then cooked with tiny pasta pieces ("pastina"), eaten as a soup and followed by a chicken main course.

* "Caesar salad": unknown in Italy, even if its inventor, Caesar Cardini, was Italian.

* Red and white checked tablecloths. They don't exist in Italy, even though countless Italian restaurants abroad use them.

* "Fettuccine alfredo", a dish of noodles with butter and Parmigiano-Reggiano, celebrated in the States as being characteristically Italian, is, says the report, "completely unknown" in Italy. Invented in Rome by Alfredo Di Lelio, it never took off in Italy, at least with that name.

* Respect tradition and a mother's advice, namely that Italian food is to be shared with those you love. Love and family are "tutto".

@independent.co.uk

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Do you put ketchup on your pasta or have a cappuccino with your supper? Worst Italian food faux pas revealed

• List of 10 kitchen no-no's released by Academia Barilla in Parma
• Putting ketchup on your pasta is 'a true culinary sin' according to report
• Other mistakes include risotto as a side dish and putting oil in pasta water

By Ruth Styles
PUBLISHED: 11:31 GMT, 8 September 2013| UPDATED:07:10 GMT, 9 September 2013

If you like your pasta covered in ketchup or think risotto is a side dish, then you haven't quite got the hang of Italian cooking, it has been revealed.

The two culinary mistakes have been included on a tongue-in-cheek list released by the Academia Barilla in Parma - an institution dedicated to defending 'Italian food products made by reputable artisans and certified denominations against poor quality imitations'.

The list of kitchen no-no's, as the Independent on Sunday reports, has been released in order to 'teach foreigners how to avoid culinary horrors' when making Italian food.

Along with putting ketchup on your pasta, described by the Academia as 'a true culinary sin', the list also includes treating risotto and pasta as a side dish, sipping cappuccino during a meal and using red and white checked tablecloths in a bid for authenticity.

'Pasta served as if it were a vegetable is a mistake committed in many other countries but in Italy is considered sacrilegious,' Gennaro Contaldo, food author and mentor of Jamie Oliver told the Independent.

'I used to see this combination of everything on a plate in Italian restaurants in the Seventies when I first came to England - I'm glad to say this has died out.'

Those who like to sip a cappuccino while enjoying their supper have also got it wrong, as according to the Academia, Italians have the milky coffee only at breakfast and will not drink it at any other time of day.

And there was bad news for fans of a savoury Spaghetti Bolognese supper, after the dish was slammed by the Academia as inauthentic, while dishes that combine pasta and chicken were also revealed to be a foreign invention.

Expert: Gennaro Contaldo (left, pictured with Antonio Carluccio) mentored Jamie Oliver

In Bologna, bolognese sauce is traditionally served with tagliatelle and not spaghetti says the Academia, while pasta with chicken - although regarded as typically Italian by Americans - is never eaten in Italy.

'Americans regard this [chicken and pasta] as typically Italian,' says the report, ' but we have to tell you: no one in Italy would serve such a dish.'

Along with Bolognese and chicken and pasta, another favourite revealed to be inauthentic was the Caesar salad.

Although invented by an Italian, Caesar Cardini, it has never been classed as an Italian dish and isn't known in the country in which it is usually thought to originate.

COMMON CULINARY FAUX PAS: THE ACADEMIA BARILLA'S LIST IN FULL

NEVER DRINK A CAPPUCCINO DURING A MEAL

A cappuccino is for breakfast and ideally should be drunk with something sweet. Although the Academia concedes it can be ordered afterwards, it points out that an Italian never would.

RISOTTO AND PASTA ARE NOT SIDE DISHES

Unless you're serving it as part of a specialty dish such as l'Ossobuco alla milanese, it's a faux pas.

DON'T PUT OIL IN THE PASTA WATER

Oil should be added after cooking.

DON'T PUT KETCHUP ON PASTA

'A true culinary sin', says the Academia.

SPAGHETTI BOLOGNESE DOESN'T EXIST IN BOLOGNA

They eat their Bolognese sauce with tagliatelle and not spaghetti.

PASTA WITH CHICKEN IS NOT ITALIAN

'No one in Italy would ever serve such a dish,' says the report.

CAESAR SALAD IS NOT ITALIAN EITHER

Its inventor was but the dish is not.

RED AND WHITE CHECKED TABLECLOTHS ARE UNKNOWN IN ITALY

Although that hasn't stopped every 'Italian' restaurant not in the country from using them.

FETTUCCINE ALFREDO: ALSO NOT ITALIAN

While it was invented in Rome, the dish is entirely unknown in Italy.

FOOD IS FOR FAMILY TIME

Eating alone in front of the TV is not the Italian way. Instead, says the report, you should respect tradition (and your mamma) and share supper times with those you love.