Food Wars (is It Really Necessary, Dear Italians?)

Joie d'Etre

Joie d'Etre

Community Member
Dec 27, 2014
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I'm sorry. I know, Italy is passionate about its food. Likes it pure of extern influence and acts like any change to it is a crime against humanity.

I just read a reddit discussion about a silly article which said something that most Italians would find very offensive, namely that classifying a country's cuisine in Yumm/Dumb and deciding that what was dumb of Italian food was: "Buffalo mozzarella -- those balls of spongy, off-white, subtly flavored cheeses of water buffalo milk. The flavor's so subtle you have to imagine it."

So, Italians are very angry about it and talk about how they would want to beat the author up, on a joking tone I guess, but you can never be sure, they take their food seriously. Still, pretty funny.

Then, they take issue with other foods that Westerners just don't understand and how painful it is for them that nobody gets them. I read this comment, and I was done:

"
Ragu alla bolognese (spaghetti bolognaise) -- the world's go-to "can't decide what to have" food. NON ESISTONO GLI SPAGHETTI ALLA BOLOGNESE! Chi diavolo ha inventato quella idiozia degli spaghetti?

"​

I'm not sure what the problem is with someone changing an original recipe to fit their taste. Spaghetti bolognaise tastes awesome. Every family has their recipe for it. It's a food you learn to love when you're 4 up to the moment you die.

I'm not sure why they have to act like it's such an offence when someone don't understand the greatness of their food, but they have no problem ridiculing the food choices of any other people who, according to them, should know better.

I like my grandma's plate of spaghetti more than I like the pasta I've been served in Rome, and I like Canadian pizza more than the pizza I've gotten in Italy, never mind how good or "artsy" it was. And I'm not an idiot for it, and I've seen Italians massacre the foods of other countries at times, and I'm just tired of these food wars.
 
:) Italians have indeed very strict rules when it comes to their food. And wines and other drinks (have you heard about the fight between Italians and the UK for serving prosecco wine on tap? Italians are outraged! It's incredible)

I had a talk with a friend of mine, who cooked a very tasty lasagna just last week. She made the ragu herself and insisted that you should boil it for 4 hours, at least! I have looked for recipes online, since I loved her lasagna and would like to try and make one myself, and have found ragu recipes that require 2 hours of boiling. Let me just say... the comments regarding the boiling time are.. wow! Now words to describe how angry some Italians were, someoene even said her grandma used to make ragu and boiled the sauce for 10 hours. 10 hours!! So, rules are rules! :)
 
Every culture has it's share of unique food and we should just respect that. Not everyone has the same taste. It is just the basic fact. But, Italians are probably extra sensitive and defensive about their food. I think it is because they do it so well and put so much love and effort into it. If you are passionate about something and someone insults it, of course you will get upset and defend it. In the same way, they are very particular abut their recipes, because they do it so well. It is probably a stigma that they carry with themselves and feel the need to live up to.
 
When food is part of the culture then people do get passionate about it when it isn't served or made the best way. For example some of the croissants I have had in the US the French would not touch and how many Italians would use sauce from a jar? It's also a lifestyle choice in that if someone has 2-4 hours to make sauce great, but not many people do these days, so you have to take into consideration these things.
 
There are a couple "American" Restaurants (They claim to be 'Authentic American') that get on my nerves because they tend to do some very unamerican things to their foods. For instance they put Beetroot and Carrots on their Hamburgers. I sent it back and made them remake the burger as thats only really common in NZ and Aussie. It really doesn't surprise me that people get upset when their foods are prepared incorrectly.
 
I would have tried that burger. Burgers don't come from America, by the way.

I just think that if the changes are made with love and a desire to explore, it should not be knocked down for it. Cultures are spread around the globe; they are bound to be adapted to the local flavor etc. I think that makes it nice -- hilarious sometimes but not something to really get bothered about!
 
I think anyone in whatever culture it may be take their food seriously. I mean why write and talk smack about someone's culture anyways. However I am assuming that the author wasn't meaning it in a disrespectful way, but Italians don't know that, so a quick explanation and or apology, should straighten it up very quickly.
 
Gabe said:
It's also a lifestyle choice in that if someone has 2-4 hours to make sauce great, but not many people do these day
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Actually, if an Italian wants to cook ragu sauce, they will either make the time to do it right, or they will wait for the weekend!
I have to be honest, I have never met an Italian who "sacrificed" ragu for time, it's always the other way around :) On of my friends even stayed up until after midnight to finish her sauce, and the next day was an early day for both of us. Her face was all puffed in the morning, she was literally falling asleep on our way to work, but she was proud about her sauce! :D

Joie d'Etre said:
Burgers don't come from America, by the way.
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Ok, this is new to me! :P
So, where are burgers originally from? I always thought they were an American food, that has spread all over the world.
 
Rosie said:
So, where are burgers originally from? I always thought they were an American food, that has spread all over the world.
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Well, as the name hamburger suggests, burgers originally come from Hamburg. Though I think it was just the idea of a meatball patty in a bun and not exactly the "McDo" burger as we know it now. Wikipedia has a whole article about the history of the burger :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_hamburger

I think what America did invent though is the cheeseburger as we know it?

I never knew anyone who took less than two/three hours to make a ragu sauce, even outside of Italy. But ten hours on a stove top is just overkill. We have such things as electricity bill, ya know! XD
 
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