It’s ridiculous to say that pecorino cheeses are not fit for consumption, entirely useless and not fit for any purpose. You can say that you don’t like some Italian cheeses (and it would be nice if you compared them with specific cheeses that you do like), but it’s obvious that pecorino cheeses are fit for consumption and that they do serve a purpose, even if you don’t put them in a sandwich. Your extreme statements make you come across as irrational.
“Incessant”, “stodge”, “unbearable”.
Obviously, something has snapped …
Not to throw gasoline on this fire, but it seems to me that accessibility of good cuisine in a country seems to be the real sticking point here. Captain Ridley says “I go to a restaurant in Italy and the food is disappointing.” Others in the thread: “Go to someone’s house and eat what they eat.” CRSP: “I’ve been to people’s houses and ate what they ate and the food was disappointing.” Others: “You have to go into the country…”
At what point can you say–if you have to go searching to that kind of extent to find great food, is it really worth it? Why would I go to Italy to hunt down that one place that actually does serve “real, authentic regional cuisine” when I can go to Paris or Barcelona and have to try hard not to find unforgettable food that I’ll be boring my friends about for years?
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The rigidity of the thinking about fats being responsible for obesity, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, amazes me. The cuisine there has been heavy on all those fats for generations, I’m sure: it’s completely illogical to suggest that suddenly now kids are getting fat as a result.
My guess, based on what has happened in other countries, is that the people where you live are actually abandoning the foods that they have been eating for generations and are embracing American-style fast foods, (containing lots of crappy carbs) processed convenience foods (more crappy carbs), and lots of sugar.
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Capt. Ridley’s Shooting Party, if you girlfriend can’t have gluten, go to the pharmacies for gluten-free food. They sell it all there as it’s prescribed and covered by the national health insurance. She will find lots to eat. As for restaurants, it’s harder but it can be done. Ask the local pharmacist for help. I bet they’ll know.
> I was not referencing food critics when I entitled my thread. I was referencing
> the perception amongst members of the public in my home country (at least).
Actually, I suspect that you’re referencing pretentious poseurs, the kind who hang out in Starbucks and think that they’re sophisticated because they’re served the kinds of coffee with Italian names in sizes that also have Italian names by a Starbucks employee with a title that’s also an Italian name. We have a lot of those in the U.S. too. Incidentally, I spent three years in England. That was 21 years ago, but I’ve been back seven times for a total of about three months on those visits. I didn’t note any tendency to overrate Italian food.
I just got back from Rome and Perugia, and I had some awesome cheese, coffee, wine, proscuitto, and boar. The rest was sorta so-so. But then again I don’t like “italian” food here very much either.
Two thoughts- American pizza is way better (and totally different) and for some anti-papist reason (I think) there isn’t salt in most bread in Umbria, which kinda sucks. Unsalted bread isn’t very good.
living in italy for quite some time now after having lived in arabic countries, america, nordic european countries, mexico, asia and a short while in eastern europe and, yes, i agree, italian cuisine is the most overrated. doesn’t mean it’s not good but its popularity is mainly due to the fact that (1) it’s relatively easy to prepare; and (2) no particular flavors/spices, so what’s not too like.
my personal favorites are the national dish “caprese”, which is actually just sliced mozzarella and tomato (very complex indeed) and the “bruschetta”, toasted/baked bread with a topping, usually chopped tomato. just calling these foods “dishes” is an overstatement. even the desserts are very simple with little to no baking involved and i wont even go into breakfast foods, which are basically inexistent…
I also agree that the restaurant choices are pitiful if you’re looking to eat something non italian, though there has been an improvement in the last 5 years.
I couldn’t agree more, Juliet. Overrated is an understatement- just plain awful.
Just came back from a 2 week trip to Italy; the worst food I have ever had!!! They should all come to NYC and take some lessons at how to prepare creative dishes. Most of the restaurants serve frozen pasta-shameful, and just plain bland tasteless food.
Highly disappointed.The only decent thing out there is wine.
I don’t know if I’d say overrated necessarily. Maybe “overexposed” is a better term.
Italian food is tasty, and the Italians do it very well. But I agree with the notion that it sort of ossified about a century ago, and that there’s not a whole lot of innovation or even cross-pollination with other kinds of cuisines.
I mean, the Italian food I had in Italy was the best I’ve ever had. Stellar. But by the end of my trip, I was sick to death of Italian food. And to some degree, it kind of broke me from craving it, some six years later. I did gain an appreciation for their style of pizza vs. the US variants though.
So if you come from a place with a fairly syncretic culinary tradition like the US, or the UK, Italian food is going to seem very fixed, and if you don’t just LOVE it, you’ll probably get bored with it pretty fast. I suspect this is true of anywhere with a sort of mono-cuisine though.
I wonder if you grew up in a sort of mono-cuisine, does the sort of riotous fusion of cuisines like say… Houston-style Vietnamese crawfish boils (adapted by Vietnamese immigrants from Cajun boils), bug you or turn you off, or is it the sort of beacon of culinary oddness that beckons some of the rest of us.
This does not at all describe my favorite Italian foods. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten an Italian dish involving cream or lard, and olive oil is far more prevalent than butter.
I think standard Italian food is fine but overexposed as well with one exception…I love traditional Venetian food, especially the exotic seafood dishes like those infused with cuttlefish ink. I couldn’t eat it all the time but is very worthwhile for an adventurous eater and completely different than other regions.
I don’t think Parisian food is that great in general either and I have been treated to some of the best restaurants there several times. Several U.S. cities including New Orleans and New York have consistently better French inspired food than most of Paris (there are certainly good restaurants there; they just seem to be slacking much of the time).
However, there is a quaint old mill restaurant and B&B in the Loire Valley (valley of castles far away from Paris) that has some French food that will make you slap your grandmother. There are a lot of extremely good French restaurants in that area. They aren’t cheap but you won’t find much better if you appreciate real French cuisine. I appreciate traditional French food much more than Italian at least for restaurant dining because it is difficult to prepare correctly and you can’t just whip it up at home whenever you feel like it.
