On Sep 6, 5:50*pm, Don Martinich > wrote:
>
> It's not just about definitions, it also a matter of local usage. I grew
> up in the SF Bay Area and never heard any kind of sauce used in Italian
> dishes being called 'gravy'. When I worked up in the Sierra foothills
> (Amador County) where you find many descendants of Italian miners, the
> word 'gravy' was commonly used for tomato or meat sauces. And a lot of
> those families were from northern Italy.
>
> D.M.

That's interesting because one the Italians I know who always calls it
gravy
(the one who puts it over polenta) was born & raised in San Francisco.