While in Rome…Eat as the Romans Do
There are few cities or cultures that can claim as much influence on the modern culture as the Romans or Italians do. Be it art, architecture, religion or opera, Rome has played a significant role in everything. So when it comes to a civilized meal Italian style, there are things to keep in mind for tourists when they head to a restaurant in Rome; ignoring some will get you raised eyebrows and others will earn you a look of pure pity for they might think you are recovering from a bump on the head.
With strong cultural roots, the Italians are a loving, open and friendly people, happy to share a laugh, sing while they work and socialize but while their living is not rigid, their food habits are developed to the point where a break in custom gets one curious looks. For instance, unless you talk of the few that cater to the odd taste buds in Rome, you won’t likely find even a foreign restaurant that serves cafe latte or cappuccino with pasta. Or worse still, bread with pasta!
Breakfast is a light repast for Italians. There will be those tourist oriented restaurants that will cater to your tastes still, just don’t think it ‘Italian’ to order bacon, sausages or eggs. Cafe latte and croissant, or brioches as Italians call them, are an acceptable breakfast; tea for breakfast is only for the brave few who can live past a bemused stare when they ask for it.
Salad and bread with hard crust are two things Italians like on their tables, however, it is a strong belief that butter with bread spoils the taste of the food; once in Italy, don’t expect to get butter served when there is bread on the table. A similarly odd combination is to ask for cheese with fish based pastas, again, don’t mind the look you got if you did ask.
While lunch is not as light a meal as it was in the past, Italians head home from 12-2 pm and the shops close too while people have a multi course meal with pasta or soup leading into meats, cheese and desserts. Coffee tops it off before shops open again.
The Ancient Roman eating habits centered on the whole day’s meals building up to a big dinner where multiple courses were served. Modern day Rome makes a healthier choice and the dinners are lighter than lunches, some miss pasta at night and jump straight into meats. Even with the Italian serving quantities being smaller than you would find in America, the courses combine to tantalize taste buds and make for a very satisfied appetite.
Meal is a form of art for the Italians, something to be taken seriously…although they do enjoy talking and socializing over a hearty dinner. If you are visiting an Italian restaurant, be sure not to walk out in the middle of a meal like a ‘barbarian’. The courses will be served one after the other, paying and leaving in mid meal is an insult to the cook. Another insult is to leave food in your plate, the cooks take offence if someone decides to leave bits of food in the plate, clear it out especially if you are eating with a family. Importantly, remember to pace the meal; once you clear your plate and the others are still eating it will be filled again, if you are a quick eater you have to pick at your food a little unless you want to leave the table stuffed and ready for the fire!
It irks the locals when visitors pick the healthy vegetables out from their meals. When it is on your plate, the rule is to eat it, and you probably will start to enjoy it. By the by, salad dressings for the Italians are good old oil and vinegar, they don’t use the ‘Italian style dressings’ we tend to blame them for.
As for drinks, meals are accompanied by water or wine, milk and soda just don’t cut it for the Italians, not for adults at least. White wine with seafood, red wine with meat is the norm. There is no age limit for drinking in Italy, but the same nation that won’t quibble at an underage drinker will protest to white wine with meat, or worse still, wine with ice cubes added to it!
Follow these simple rules during your visit to Italy and you would be deemed a cultured and educated visitor by the people of one of the ancient and cultured civilization on the planet.
If you liked this post subscribe to our feed to get regular updates.
February 19th, 2008 at 8:12 pm
lol ok well I thought there was something amiss when I got a glare for insisting I only wanted pasta. I found out spaghetti with meatballs is not really an Italian dish. Amazing, no?
February 29th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Always had layers of pizza toppings until I went to Naples, there is no beating the topping with just mozzarella and tomatoes. It tasted wonderful and I was amazed that it didn’t taste as good when my wife tried it at home!