The itallians would have us believe that they are culinary gods. Even in ‘good’ Italian restaurants I find the food ok but just a bit bland. Compared to Thai, french, Spanish etc I just don’t think it measures up. What am I missing?

Italian food isn’t spicy in the same way that Far/South Eastern food is, but how you can call it ‘bland’ I really don’t know. Italian food is bloody amazing.

Southern Italian food tends to be perhaps a little more lively than northern stuff. More fish and seafood. try pasta alla putanesca or something.

Perhaps its the restaurants you go to?

Have you been to Italy? One of the memorable things from my tour there was the quality of the food. Even “pub grub” equivalent was cooked with good ingredients and with care resulting in some very nice food indeed.

my friend 2 doors down is italian, he cooks lovely food, my favourite is a beaten rolled piece of beef marinated for 24 hrs in a tomato basil and garlic soup, served by itself with bread olive oil and a side plate of roasted veg,

real italian food is never bland as long as your remember to finish with a nice bottle of lemocello from the freezer 😀

Maybe try pizza express rather than pizza hut?

Italian ‘food’ is fantastic when it’s done right, like any other sub-species of food.

TandemJeremy – Member
Perhaps its the restaurants you go to?

Have you been to Italy? One of the memorable things from my tour there was the quality of the food. Even “pub grub” equivalent was cooked with good ingredients and with care resulting in some very nice food indeed.

+1. The seafood in Venice was superb and one of the highlights of the trip. Walking down the streets at night and buying a slice of pizza from one of the windows by the resturants was amazing.

Have you been to Italy? One of the memorable things from my tour there was the quality of the food.

I have, and I had crap food. I’m sure many small local restaurant owners are dedicated cooks, but some in big cities are clearly on the make serving slop to misty-eyed tourists.

I think the most important thing to remember about Italian food is…

Dont order the Gnocchi. It’s the dullest thing, in my opinion. Other stuff tends to be good.

Confuses me why so many Italians come over here and open greasy spoons rather than Italian eateries?

Maybe my taste buds are at fault then as I have tried some decent restaurants. Maybe the problem is that Italians don’t do curries….

The problem with Italian food over here is people tend to buy it cooked by a Pakistani from a Turkish take-away. I’m going out on a limb here but I imagine that your average Italian wouldn’t sell ‘ham’ that’s actually turkey painted pink.

Italian food, like any other genre, will have its good and bad examples.

I’m with loddrik. It’s as overrated as their fighting abilities. Perhaps if they concentrated as much on their cuisine as much as on corruption, crime and sharp suits…

I’ve eaten fantastic Italian food and average Italian food. Same as every cuisine really, there’s good, bad and indifferent. If food is prepared and cooked well using the best ingredients then you are generally onto a winner. If there is a cuisine I do find over-rated it would be Chinese. Very samey and rarely differs from restaurant to restaurant.

Italian food is far more regional than you’d believe. In the UK I have been to 2 Italian restaurants in my life that measure up to the food I used to eat in Italy. Over here we tend to get that amalgam of the whole country rather than the region. Good Italian food can stand against the best of any other cuisine any time.

i spent half my time this summer in italy…. some of the food was excellent, some was below par.

i quite like the simplicity of some of the food.

You can’t beat fish and chips IMO, Protein, carbs and fats, what more do you need. Non of this foreign muck I say. Hang on! Fish and chips is foreign muck!! 😆

I’ve got some really amazing local italian restaurants here in Ealing. Off for pizza here in a few minutes.

What am I missing?

Probably cooking it yourself – get a decent recipe book, and decent quality ingredients, and off you go. A good carbonara, matriciana, mmmmm

You are missing a lot – but it is usually about simple high quality ingredients cooked and presented well. The best summer food there is.

If what you want is mega-punch/spice you will be disappointed. If what you want is thick French style sauces you will also be disappointed outside emillia-romagna. And as said before – huge regional variations.

My favourate is Penne Putanesca: I love the notion that someone engaged in the oldest profession in the world should want to eat anchovies and olives for breakfast!!
Mmmm!

Italian food rocks, except pollenta, that really is dull.