Help Needed: Share Your Perception of Italian Cuisine

[BasilicoBurst]

I would really appreciate it if you could take a couple of minutes to answer a super quick survey about Italian cuisine.

The questions are:
-Where are you from?
-Have you ever tried to cook Italian food?
-What's the biggest problem you've encountered trying to cook Italian?

Please comments with you answers.

Big thanks to anyone who's gonna give me a few minutes of their time, it really means the world to me!

Thanks!
Basilico

 

[SilverSage]

Italian food is one of the most commonly cooked "ethnic" foods in the USA. Everyone here knows how to cook Italian. From pizza to pasta to eggplant parmigiana to tiramisu, it's one of the easiest and first thing most of us learned to cook. The ingredients are readily available and inexpensive. Tomatoes and peppers didn't originate in Italy anyhow - they are native to the Americas and only brought to Italy in the mid 1500's, and so are common ingredients with which we are all familiar. Pasta originated in China 4,000 years ago, and was only brought to Italy in the 1300's.

If you go back before the introduction of tomatoes, most southern Italian food was similar to Greek, and northern Italian was similar to French in it's reliance on butter, cream and cheese, as opposed to the olive oil from Greece. So you can thank the Americas, Greeks, and Chinese for what is now considered "Italian Food".

If you are looking to write a cookbook or teach a class, good luck to you, but understand that most Americans are very familiar with Italian food.

 

[QSis]

SilverSage is right - it's easy to cook most Italian foods better than I can get when dining out, so I almost never order it. Two exceptions are braciole and fried eggplant - both are a pain for me to make, so I may order either.

I rarely eat sweets so I'd never make cannoli, but I buy one every 5 years or so.

I live in the Boston area.

Lee

 

[BasilicoBurst]

Italian food is one of the most commonly cooked "ethnic" foods in the USA. Everyone here knows how to cook Italian. From pizza to pasta to eggplant parmigiana to tiramisu, it's one of the easiest and first thing most of us learned to cook. The ingredients are readily available and inexpensive. Tomatoes and peppers didn't originate in Italy anyhow - they are native to the Americas and only brought to Italy in the mid 1500's, and so are common ingredients with which we are all familiar. Pasta originated in China 4,000 years ago, and was only brought to Italy in the 1300's.

If you go back before the introduction of tomatoes, most southern Italian food was similar to Greek, and northern Italian was similar to French in it's reliance on butter, cream and cheese, as opposed to the olive oil from Greece. So you can thank the Americas, Greeks, and Chinese for what is now considered "Italian Food".

If you are looking to write a cookbook or teach a class, good luck to you, but understand that most Americans are very familiar with Italian food.

Thanks for dedicating your time. Could you share where in America you live and where you typically shop for groceries? It appears that many people have been facing the primary difficulty of sourcing good quality raw materials at honest prices.

 

[BasilicoBurst]

SilverSage is right - it's easy to cook most Italian foods better than I can get when dining out, so I almost never order it. Two exceptions are braciole and fried eggplant - both are a pain for me to make, so I may order either.

I rarely eat sweets so I'd never make cannoli, but I buy one every 5 years or so.

I live in the Boston area.

Lee

Thanks for taking the time. Can you please tell me what's the trickiest part of making braciole or fried eggplant for you?

 

[SilverSage]

Thanks for dedicating your time. Could you share where in America you live and where you typically shop for groceries? It appears that many people have been facing the primary difficulty of sourcing good quality raw materials at honest prices.

Not in our country. We have the most plentiful, available food supply in the world. There are also many price points - from luxurious epicurean treats and specialty stores, major supermarkets, and discount stores, to farmer's markets. I shop at all of them.

 

[SilverSage]

Thanks for taking the time. Can you please tell me what's the trickiest part of making braciole or fried eggplant for you?

Are you planning to write a cookbook or do a You Tube channel? Or something else?

 

[lilbopeep]

SilverSage is right - it's easy to cook most Italian foods better than I can get when dining out, so I almost never order it. Two exceptions are braciole and fried eggplant - both are a pain for me to make, so I may order either.

I rarely eat sweets so I'd never make cannoli, but I buy one every 5 years or so.

I live in the Boston area.

Lee

I’m sure you can make both of those just fine. Too bad we don’t live closer. I’d come make both with you. BTW I’m planning on making a big batch of braciole, meatballs, cotenna (pork skin braciole), sausage, gravy meat to portion out and food saver. Also a big batch of gravy/sauce. Both for the freezer. I see lots of lasagna and stuffed shells etc. in my future. If all goes well and my hands cooperate.

 

[QSis]

I’m sure you can make both of those just fine. Too bad we don’t live closer. I’d come make both with you. BTW I’m planning on making a big batch of braciole, meatballs, cotenna (pork skin braciole), sausage, gravy meat to portion out and food saver. Also a big batch of gravy/sauce. Both for the freezer. I see lots of lasagna and stuffed shells etc. in my future. If all goes well and my hands cooperate.

Thanks, Peep, how sweet! Sure, I can make them ... I just find them tedious to make. There's your answer BasilicoBurst.

Lee

 

[Johnny West]

Who doesn’t love Italian food? Nancy is making pizza sauce, from scratch, with Roma tomatoes as I write.