More to Italian cuisine than pizza and pasta

By Lisa Carducci (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-05-22 14:05

Italy has 600 to 800 kinds of pasta, a good example of its varied cuisine. Quanjing

I recently came across an article by a Chinese reporter who traveled to Italy and wrote on what he thought of Italian cuisine. His opinions made me sad not only for him, as he was dissatisfied, but also for the readers who may have got the wrong image.

Italian cuisine is one of the most elaborate and varied and appreciated worldwide. It is as rich as the Chinese one, but very different. The real thing is usually unseen by tourists.

Mr Reporter said "the portions were too small", and that "a plate of spaghetti and a Coke may make a dinner for an Italian, but not for a Chinese". He surely ignored the fact that Italy has 600 to 800 kinds of pasta - not only spaghetti - and I don't know how many kinds of seasonings for them.

First, it's important to note that Italians see pasta not as a complete meal but as un primo, a starter, so the portion must leave space for il secondo - the main dish, usually fish or meat, surrounded by the contorno (vegetables), and preceded or followed by an insalata (salad), a brodino or a zuppa (broth or soup). Yet, that is not all!

A meal always ends with a choice of cheese, breads and fruit. Banquets, official dinners and wedding are even more complex with an antipasto misto or appetizer (cold dish of salami, prosciutto, soppressata, melon, olives, mozzarella, celery, anchovies, tomatoes, etc.), entremets (between dishes) that can be ice cream as well as salmon mousse, and cakes and pastries at the end, with coffee and digestive liquors, besides the different wines that accompany the meal from the first to the last bite.

Italians as well as Chinese like to eat and consider cooking as an art. No wonder workers or students leave at 1pm for lunch, and why stores, offices, clinics etc re-open only at 3 or even 4 pm. Looks like Mr Reporter had no chance to partake of a real meal in Italy.

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