No Wonder Brits think we are Fat and Stupid

[Dr. Who]

$#@!ized for the American palette. That was quite the shock for me. I spent many years cooking in Italian restaurants when I was a kid. I thought I was cooking real Italian cuisine. Then I met an Italian and she was not impressed. So I ended up studying Italian cuisine from the Compania region. Now when I try to make new cuisines I try to be as authentic as possible.

They were adapted for the American palette and adapted to what was available in terms of produce etc. Many Italian-American dishes developed because the original Italian immigrants were very poor, so there was a lot that they couldn't afford and certain vegetables were not available at all or not available during the winter months. The women often worked actual jobs, so they didn't always have time to make the more time consuming Italian fare. There is also the fact that the preponderance of the Italian immigrants came from southern Italy, so there isn't the same variety of Italian dishes in America that you find in Italy. The idea of eating everything with a sauce is very southern Italian - it was a way to stretch meat in particular. Most of the Italian dishes in America originate in Lazio, Campania and Calabria, and Sicily.

[Mister D]

I'm a big fan of Italian American cuisine. It's different and I think that's partly because American immigrants had inexpensive meat available.

[Mister D]

A lot of the older traditional American dishes tend to be adaptations of their European predecessors.

That's true.

[The Booman]

I'm a big fan of Italian American cuisine. It's different and I think that's partly because American immigrants had inexpensive meat available.

It's great and from the cooks point of view fun to cook. Now American-Chinese takeaway is an amusement park for me.

[carolina73]

It was the same for Mexicans that we brought up for training during the 80s. if you brought them to a Mexican restaurant then they did not recognize very much on the menu.

[Mister D]

It's great and from the cooks point of view fun to cook. Now American-Chinese takeaway is an amusement park for me.

I used to like the garlic and broccoli thing from higher end Chinese joints but I got sick from it twice in a row from two different places. Not sure what it is but no more fake Chinese food for me.

[The Booman]

I used to like the garlic and broccoli thing from higher end Chinese joints but I got sick from it twice in a row from two different places. Not sure what it is but no more fake Chinese food for me.

Not fake food but bad sanitation and hygiene.

[Mister D]

Not fake food but bad sanitation and hygiene.

See, that's the thing. These two places weren't those hole in the wall takeout joints. They're popular and reputable from what I know but maybe you're right. I thought there could be an ingredient I'm allergic to but who knows what goes on in the kitchen.

[Dr. Who]

I'm a big fan of Italian American cuisine. It's different and I think that's partly because American immigrants had inexpensive meat available.

Italian American cuisine breaks many of the rules of Italian cuisine. You would never find spaghetti with meatballs in Italy or indeed spaghetti with any kind of meat sauce. Spaghetti is always served with a thinner sauce, or even just olive oil with herbs and grated cheese, so that every strand of spaghetti gets coated. Sauce made with meat is typically served over pastas that have ridges or nooks and crannies to hold the bits of meat or with tagliatelle, never spaghetti. Meat balls, known as polpette, are rarely served with pasta, but rather consumed on their own as a snack - never in sauce over pasta.

I think that necessity, being the mother of invention, resulted in a fracturing of many of those immutable rules when Italian immigrants were adapting to life in America and time and the popularization of these dishes in restaurants and people's homes did the rest.

[carolina73]

See, that's the thing. These two places weren't those hole in the wall takeout joints. They're popular and reputable from what I know but maybe you're right. I thought there could be an ingredient I'm allergic to but who knows what goes on in the kitchen.

You never know what PJL's kin will serve you