Italian cuisine is not only one of the oldest in the world but also one of the favourites, having specialized restaurants in nearly every city you go.
I already knew that Italian food was loved around the world but I wasn’t really aware of how much until now. For the last few weeks I have had the chance to travel through Germany, and now being in the Czech Republic, and I have been surprised by the amount of Italian restaurants (or just average restaurants claiming to serve pizza and pasta) that I have found on my way.
Most of them aren’t even run by Italian people. In fact, some German friends told me that most of the Italian restaurants in their city were run by people from Croatia. Well, I have never had the chance to try Croatian food but no doubt they thought Italian cuisine would be more popular than their native specialties.
In some cities I have even seen more Italian restaurants than restaurants serving local food. For sure that’s because most of the people prefer to eat pizza and pasta rather than trying the local specialties. But why is that? If we have the chance to try new and local food, why do we sometimes stick to pizza and pasta, even if we are in Germany?
The Italian cuisine, with its endless pasta recipes and its easy-to-eat pizza has become a safe bet when you are travelling around the world. It doesn’t matter where you are. You can have an informal meal out of a slice of pizza nearly everywhere, or you can have a proper and romantic night in a nice Italian ristorante, surrounded by the light of some candles and the smell of home-made dishes.
Maybe sometimes we just prefer not to take the risk. And although I love trying new dishes when I am abroad I must confess I have sinned too. Last night I went to an Italian ristorante here in Prague. There are so many that it was difficult not to do it. So a friend living in the city took me to the best, not only for the food but also for its amazing location: the place, called ristorante Grosseto, is a “floating restaurant” on the Vltava river. There we had the chance to savour one of the most delicious pasta dishes I have ever had, while admiring the Charles Bridge and Prague’s castle. Could I ask for more? So although Czech cuisine is great too, I don’t regret having betrayed it for just one night.
Italian food really has something that makes us feel it as ours. You don’t have to be in Rome anymore to eat good Italian food, as this has crossed the borders and has become not just an Italian patrimony but a world-wide pleasure.
Thanks Marta!
About the author
Marta Mir has a degree in Journalism. But tired of listening to the stories of politicians in power she decided to flee to distant lands to, like the ancient troubadours, come back and tell her own stories. Now she has less money but is much happier.
How about you? Do you tend to seek out one cuisine over another when you travel?
Marta,
I’ve had the opportunity to live in Italy since 2001, and since then I’ve traveled well within Italy and outside of Italy. I always avoid Italian cuisine when outside of Itsly. My husband and have noticed the Italian restaurant phenomenon and have also noticed that those restaurants rarely serve the same food as an Italian restaurant in Italy, even when the restaurant is Italian-owned. This is, of course, especially true in America, where things are “Americanized” for the different tastes. For instance, spaghetti with meatballs, served the way it is pictured in this post, does not seem to be common in Italy. I’ve never seen it! You’ll have to tell me where you found that. Our favorite place for meatballs in Southern Italy serves two meatballs with sauce … and that’s it! Pasta is a separate first course.
The restaurant in Prague does indeed look inviting though!
D
I try to eat local cuisine when I’m traveling but I do have to say on my recent trip to Maine, while the seafood was delish, one of the best meals I had was at an Italian place. Simply heaven on a plate. Yum!
Thanks so much for stopping by my blog!! I really appreciate the SITS love!!
@Dana, this is precisely why my French husband refuses to eat in French restaurants in the US, he is always disappointed!
Dana took the words right out of my mouth! After spending months at a time in Italy, I can’t eat Italian food elsewhere. As an Italian friend of mine once said, “This is just food. It’s not Italian food.” Papa al pomodoro, ribollita, tortellini di zucca, polenta….never see those fantastic Italian dishes on Italian-American menus.
@Jeannie, agree (like I said to Dana, my hubby won’t eat French food because of the disappointment!) but in someway I would rather have people eat a version of Italian (even if it is no where near the quality you get in Italy) than to eat fast food.
I just want to say that Italian restaurants are everywhere because it makes specialized items which are so tasty such as pizza. I have tasted Italians restaurant pizza which is so interesting to it. I am a big fan of Italian Rastafarian. A big thank for posting such an informative article…
@Daniel, since you took the time to comment I thought I would offer some advice, if you put your link in the URL field it will get the same link juice impact you were looking for as if you put it in the body of the content. I checked out your blog and you have a good start but there is an 80-20 rule (or 9-1) which means your content should be focused on other things in addition to yourself. Your post on mozzarella cheese was headed in the right directions. Yes, it is about your cheese, but the focus is on the producer or ingredients – the post needs to go into more detail like how it is made, where it is made, how it used, where it is used. When you talk about coming to your place to see the NCAA tournaments – explain the benefits of coming to your place over another or staying at home – your TV system, your specials, not having to clean up the mess and focusing on the game, break from the kids – etc. Good luck!
I love love Italian food. I would love to go to Italy to have real Italian food. I haven’t found many good Italian restaurants here in Texas.
@Christina, I’ll have to put out my feelers for some suggestions for you. What part of Texas are you in?