British Expatriate Network

I have been looking through these threads and I see references to Mexican and Thai in addition to British. My family loves Italian, we started with spaghetti and meatballs, went to lasagne, baked ziti and on to others. I expect most people eat pizza, but have you made your own in the Italian style.

Maybe nobody else likes Italian, how about you?

I love Italian food.

I don't mind it once in a while.
I find it all very much the same thing in different forms.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..... Love it all!

razz

I love it, but I'm very picky about where I get it. I'm Italian, and my off the boat grandmom spoiled me to the best Italian food. I rarely go to the Olive Garden.. and then I just go with chicken parm.

LS> if you ever get into the city (south philly), there's a place on Passyunk Ave (I don't think I spelled it right) called Mama Maria's. Its pricey, but they give you I think, 6 courses and includes wine and spirits..

Starts
Antipasta
Soup
Salad
pasta ( a selection )
sorbet (palet cleanser)
main course (choice of 3)
Dessert
Cheese and fruit
a HUGE tray of liquors - the big bottles, along with homemade lemoncello.

I'm married to an Italian who teaches Italian cooking. (At last a post i know something about... smile )

Consequently I live on an Italian diet. However, we never eat in Italian restaurants in the US. Generally speaking Italian-American food bears no comparison to 'real' Italian. Meatballs and Chicken Parmangiano I find inedible - I also think that the best of Italian food, which is generally very simple, is eaten at home and that other nationalities excel at the 'big night out' dinners. (e.g. French)

Do you know Lydia (the TV chef) - she gets my wife screaming at the TV because she claims to cook Italian food while pouring a bucket of olive oil into every dish. (The olive oil company is the sponsor after all). Then she introduces you to members of her family - like her obese grandson who forced to eat all her cooking will get a hear attack before he reaches 15.

Most days we eat pasta with vegetables. Certain pasta MUST be used with certain vegetables. E.g Farfalla (butterfly pasta) and squash is my favourite dish. I also like also like broccoli and pasta. Octopus in tomato sauce is another of my wife's signature dishes..

Back in my wife's home town (near Salerno) every meal her mother cooks is a 3 course affair..
Pasta dish
Meat or Fish (usually cooked in a sauce)
Fruit/Cheese/Cakes

I love the cakes shops too. Four about 10 Euro you get a tray full of the most fantastic cream cakes I've ever tasted.

Maybe thats why I dont care for Italian that much, too much oasta and sauce. not enough veggie dishes.

Meditteranean food rocks, look at what it does to the people there, unlike foods on this side of the pond

Where do you live... my dad and I will be over! I went to Lidia's restaraunt in Pittsburgh and it was horrible. People raved over it, but I thought it was gross. :#
Best meal I had was in a little restaraunt outside of the Vatican. Just plain old spaghetti Bolognese but it was the best I've ever had!

I will say that Mama Maria's is the Real Deal, but this is all I could find on it!


"South Philly (or Sou'philly) was put on the map briefly when Sylvester Stallone made Rocky back in the late 1970s. It's a great deal of fun for me to watch that film nowadays, now that I recognize a few of the places he visits. My favorite restaurants in this section are Mama Maria's, Pesto, Franco & Luigi's, and Criniti, all Italian. Oh, South Philly is, or used to be anyway, an Italian neighborhood, so the proliferation of authentic Italian restaurants isn't too surprising here"

The recent obesity thread showed a chart where 'Greek' obestiy levels where as high as those in America...

There are a lot of fat Italians in my wife's hometown. I think healthy eating is under threat there too for the same reason it is here - people value speed and convenience over health and taste.

My wife has a real passion for cooking and food. She enjoys spending a lot of time preparing food and cooking. Probably shopping for fresh ingredients is the thing that takes up the most time.

To be honest any nationalities diet can be 'healthy' or 'not healthy'.

I have heard of Mama Maria's but never been there. I went once to Pat's for a cheese steak but wasn't that impressed cos he uses cheese whiz, other than that, trips to Walts King of Crabs for mussels marinara and crabs.

Just like Mexican... ;o)

It all depends on what you eat and where, or which cookbooks you look in. There's quite a lot you can do with veggies and olive oil, or a marsala type sauce (basically wine based gravy).

I do like Italian food, but what you have listed is American food!

I'd second that. Is Middle Eastern food included in that too?

Had loads of those during university days in London, at friends home.