No, really. I get the impression Italians are totally dedicated to
their own cuisine. You never hear of Italian fusion. I think
Americans would eat Eskimo if they could get it. But, Italians....

nb ...too many beers

Ain't no cheese in China!

"notbob" > wrote in message
...
> No, really. I get the impression Italians are totally dedicated to
> their own cuisine. You never hear of Italian fusion. I think
> Americans would eat Eskimo if they could get it. But, Italians....
>
> nb ...too many beers

I was raised in a household with an Italian father, so I can say we
definitely had a mediterranean diet and I've carried its influence in an
ongoing way (including having Campari and Frenet Branca around). I regularly
eat really simple rustic fare, like seared or grilled meat, lightly cooked
veggies, pasta, and things cooked on top of the stove. But I live in San
Francisco so I also love Asian food. I have most of the Asian
staple/condiments like sesame oil, fish sauce, chili sauce, etc and will
just as often marinate something with a little fish or soy sauce as with
some kind of herbed vinagrette or lemon. If I was on a deserted island
though? I'd probably choose pizza over dim sum.

Um...

Spaghetti

Noodles

Marco Polo

Hel-LOOooo...

--Blair
"They invented fusion."

On 2006-02-25, rox formerly rmg > wrote:

> some kind of herbed vinagrette or lemon. If I was on a deserted island
> though? I'd probably choose pizza over dim sum.

I remember once when I worked at Site 300. The chow hall food was
trucked in from the main cafeteria at LLNL in thermal containers and
not what one would call ...gourmet. It was a Friday and the main dish
of the day was Italian chow mein, not so mysteriously following
spaghetti on Wed and chow mein on Thur. Needless to say, I passed.
:\

nb

"notbob" > wrote in message
...

> No, really. I get the impression Italians are totally
> dedicated to their own cuisine. You never hear of
> Italian fusion. I think Americans would eat Eskimo
> if they could get it. But, Italians....

Not much, I think. The last time we were in Rome, the husband and I were
having an interesting conversation with our cab driver, asking him where he
went to eat with his friends when they didn't go for Italian. He was
baffled as to why anyone would eat anything other than Italian, since the
food was so good. You see the occasional "ethnic" eatery in Italy, but
they're few and far between, even in the big cities; they're nonexistent in
towns and villages.

OTOH, my husband's Italian colleagues are quite world-open about what they
eat when they're outside of Italy.

-j

On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 22:59:08 -0600, notbob > wrote:

>No, really. I get the impression Italians are totally dedicated to
>their own cuisine. You never hear of Italian fusion. I think
>Americans would eat Eskimo if they could get it. But, Italians....
>
>nb ...too many beers

I guess it depends on who "invented" pasta. If you go for the Marco
Polo story, then Italians eat Chinese almost every day.

My guess is that much of what is considered modern Italian cuisine
represents fusions from the north, the south, the New World (tomatoes,
peppers, etc.), immigrants and armies, all magically incorportated by
the Italians and the climate into a deliciously "Italian" cuisine.

Sue(tm)
Lead me not into temptation... I can find it myself!

In article >,
(Curly Sue) wrote:

> On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 22:59:08 -0600, notbob > wrote:
>
> >No, really. I get the impression Italians are totally dedicated to
> >their own cuisine. You never hear of Italian fusion. I think
> >Americans would eat Eskimo if they could get it. But, Italians....
> >
> >nb ...too many beers
>
> I guess it depends on who "invented" pasta. If you go for the Marco
> Polo story, then Italians eat Chinese almost every day.
>
> My guess is that much of what is considered modern Italian cuisine
> represents fusions from the north, the south, the New World (tomatoes,
> peppers, etc.), immigrants and armies, all magically incorportated by
> the Italians and the climate into a deliciously "Italian" cuisine.

Exactly. As I understand it, the tomato was not indigenous to Italy, but
the Italians sure do wonderful things with how they cook tomatoes.

On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 13:42:06 GMT, (Curly
Sue) wrote:

>On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 22:59:08 -0600, notbob > wrote:
>
>>No, really. I get the impression Italians are totally dedicated to
>>their own cuisine. You never hear of Italian fusion. I think
>>Americans would eat Eskimo if they could get it. But, Italians....
>>
>>nb ...too many beers
>
>I guess it depends on who "invented" pasta. If you go for the Marco
>Polo story, then Italians eat Chinese almost every day.
>
>My guess is that much of what is considered modern Italian cuisine
>represents fusions from the north, the south, the New World (tomatoes,
>peppers, etc.), immigrants and armies, all magically incorportated by
>the Italians and the climate into a deliciously "Italian" cuisine.
>

And the Greek slaves that they brought over as cooks.
--
Susan N.

"Moral indignation is in most cases two percent moral,
48 percent indignation, and 50 percent envy."
Vittorio De Sica, Italian movie director (1901-1974

notbob > wrote in news:hsmdnU0sKo6BeWLeRVn-
:

> No, really. I get the impression Italians are totally dedicated to
> their own cuisine. You never hear of Italian fusion.

Mediterranean cuisine is partly Italian fusion.

--
"When I give food to the poor, they call me a saint. When I ask why
the poor have no food, they call me a communist."

Dom Helder Camara

A friend who lives in Italy explained to me that when most Italians go
out to eat, they
are looking for mostly the same kind of food they might make at home,
perhaps more "refined" in ingredients, but basically familiar foods.
They might go out for Chinese food once a year or so just for a lark,
but do not think, as we often do, "what shall we eat tonight, Thai,
Mexican, Japanese, French, Italian?" That being said, Italian food is
much more varied that most Americans know. The cuisine of the north,
for instance, uses butter, not ollive oil, with a definite French
influence, to the northeast, it's German-influenced, not the
tomato-based Sicilian cuisine found in most American Italian
restaurants. I would say that your impression of dedication to their
own cuisine is fairly accurate, but their own cuisine will vary from
one region of Italy to another.

In article .com>,
"Blair P. Houghton" > wrote:

> Um...
>
> Spaghetti
>
> Noodles
>
> Marco Polo
>
> Hel-LOOooo...

Although there is some evidence, I'll see if I can dig it up, that it
wasn't brought over, but rather had been created in Italy independently.




Regards,
Ranee

Remove do not & spam to e-mail me.

"She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands." Prov 31:13

http://arabianknits.blogspot.com/
http://talesfromthekitchen.blogspot.com/

notbob wrote:

> No, really. I get the impression Italians are totally dedicated to
> their own cuisine. You never hear of Italian fusion. I think
> Americans would eat Eskimo if they could get it. But, Italians....


Some of the Italians (and ex -pats who live there) who post on
rec.travel.europe say that finding "foreign" ingredients in Italy is
frequently a hassle...


> nb ...too many beers


There's no such thing as "too many beers" nb... ;-)

--
Best
Greg

On 2006-02-25, Blair P. Houghton > wrote:

> Ever wonder how the world would have turned out if Italy had got the
> potato and Ireland had got the Tomato?

no

On 25 Feb 2006 07:40:37 -0800, stitcher wrote:

> A friend who lives in Italy explained to me that when most Italians go
> out to eat, they
> are looking for mostly the same kind of food they might make at home,
> perhaps more "refined" in ingredients, but basically familiar foods.
> They might go out for Chinese food once a year or so just for a lark,
> but do not think, as we often do, "what shall we eat tonight, Thai,
> Mexican, Japanese, French, Italian?" That being said, Italian food is
> much more varied that most Americans know. The cuisine of the north,
> for instance, uses butter, not ollive oil, with a definite French
> influence, to the northeast, it's German-influenced, not the
> tomato-based Sicilian cuisine found in most American Italian
> restaurants. I would say that your impression of dedication to their
> own cuisine is fairly accurate, but their own cuisine will vary from
> one region of Italy to another.

So, are they stuck with the cooking of their own region or do Italians
decide if they want to go out for Tuscan, Sicilian or Venezian?
--

Practice safe eating. Always use condiments.

On 24 Feb 2006 22:41:52 -0800, Blair P. Houghton wrote:

>Um...
>
>Spaghetti
>
>Noodles
>
>Marco Polo
>
>Hel-LOOooo...
>
>--Blair
> "They invented fusion."

Hel-LOOoo :-)

Your thinking Gary Cooper 1938 not Marco Polo 1260 A.D.

Ist century books from Rome mention cooking pasta.
--
Pan Ohco
I would like to see the bottom of my monitor, but I have cats.

Again, this is only my impression, but mostly the restaurants in their
own town will have the local
cuisine. In the larger cities, you might have more choices. For
instance, there is a restaurant I know of in Venice which highlights
Tuscan cuisine, but mostly in Venice you get Venetian cuisine.
In Genoa, you eat Genovese in most restaurants, pesto and seafood and
such. You probably would
have a tough time getting the local Piedmont cheese bra outside of
Piedmont, so it would be hard to have that as an offering on a menu in
Sicily. I will consult my Italian friend for more info on this.

On Sat, 25 Feb 2006 10:45:24 -0800, sf >
wrote:

>On 25 Feb 2006 07:40:37 -0800, stitcher wrote:
>
>> A friend who lives in Italy explained to me that when most Italians go
>> out to eat, they
>> are looking for mostly the same kind of food they might make at home,
>> perhaps more "refined" in ingredients, but basically familiar foods.
>> They might go out for Chinese food once a year or so just for a lark,
>> but do not think, as we often do, "what shall we eat tonight, Thai,
>> Mexican, Japanese, French, Italian?" That being said, Italian food is
>> much more varied that most Americans know. The cuisine of the north,
>> for instance, uses butter, not ollive oil, with a definite French
>> influence, to the northeast, it's German-influenced, not the
>> tomato-based Sicilian cuisine found in most American Italian
>> restaurants. I would say that your impression of dedication to their
>> own cuisine is fairly accurate, but their own cuisine will vary from
>> one region of Italy to another.
>
>So, are they stuck with the cooking of their own region or do Italians
>decide if they want to go out for Tuscan, Sicilian or Venezian?

Speaking of which - where's Pandora lately? She'd be the one to ask
about all of this!

sf wrote:
> On 25 Feb 2006 07:40:37 -0800, stitcher wrote:
>
> > A friend who lives in Italy explained to me that when most Italians go
> > out to eat, they
> > are looking for mostly the same kind of food they might make at home,
> > perhaps more "refined" in ingredients, but basically familiar foods.
> > They might go out for Chinese food once a year or so just for a lark,
> > but do not think, as we often do, "what shall we eat tonight, Thai,
> > Mexican, Japanese, French, Italian?" That being said, Italian food is
> > much more varied that most Americans know. The cuisine of the north,
> > for instance, uses butter, not ollive oil, with a definite French
> > influence, to the northeast, it's German-influenced, not the
> > tomato-based Sicilian cuisine found in most American Italian
> > restaurants. I would say that your impression of dedication to their
> > own cuisine is fairly accurate, but their own cuisine will vary from
> > one region of Italy to another.
>
> So, are they stuck with the cooking of their own region or do Italians
> decide if they want to go out for Tuscan, Sicilian or Venezian?

Most 'talians can't spell those... years ago my 'talian neighbors
(Vincent and Teresa - Vinny & Terry) had thier first child. The guido
grandfather (Dominic) was beaming as he handed out cigars (yeah, with
'talians the gal's father hands out the cigars, like he was the father
and the son-in-law is a nothing). Dom could hardly contain himself as
he related how the kid was born by Sicilian Section. I swear.

In the US they eat almost exclusively pizzas, pastas, saw-seeges, meata
balles, and bread, bread by the acres... if it ain't high carb/fat
'talians won't eat it... ever see what 'talians calls ensalde, a saucer
of two lettuce leaves and a sleaze of tomato *drowning* in olive earl,
which they sop up with bread and leave the lettuce and mato... 'talians
eat lots of bread, even use bread to sop up the juices from when they
have sex... hey, they eat anchovies too! hehe Btw, 'talians never talk
food in the singular... Yo, Carmine, takea more macaronis.

NO, 'taliians do not eat Chinese food.. not to mention they can't read
the menu, and this is true. Ever notice in 'talian restaurants how
the WOPS just holler out their order, no menu, And one is always the
designated orderer, orders for everyone with no discussion... no menu
because the the loud mouthed ones who do all the ordering and bossing
about really can't read... their brains had a Sicilian Section
lobotomy, only the mouth works.
..

"Michael "Dog3" Lonergan" > wrote in message
...
> notbob > hitched up their panties and posted
> :
>
>> No, really. I get the impression Italians are totally dedicated to
>> their own cuisine. You never hear of Italian fusion. I think
>> Americans would eat Eskimo if they could get it. But, Italians....
>>
>> nb ...too many beers
>>
>
> LOL... The subject header is hilarious. I can just picture a bunch of
> Italians trying to poke a Chinese person into the pot to cook 'em up.
> Thanks for the chuckle.
>
> Michael
>

When we were in Florence a few years back we chanced upon a Chinese
restaurant. We decided to try it - big mistake!! Trying to eat non-Italian
when in Italy is just plain stupid. We learned our lesson.


--
Peter Aitken
Visit my recipe and kitchen myths page at www.pgacon.com/cooking.htm

"Benhua!" > writes:

>Ain't no cheese in China!

That reminds me of the Monty Python song "I Like Chinese". At one
point the lyrics talk about a Chinese take-out menu item as having
"light cheese". EW. Grosses me out every time.

Stacia

Dear Sheldon,

Join your ancestors.

--Blair

Glitter Ninja wrote:
> "Benhua!" > writes:
>
> >Ain't no cheese in China!
>
> That reminds me of the Monty Python song "I Like Chinese". At one
> point the lyrics talk about a Chinese take-out menu item as having
> "light cheese". EW. Grosses me out every time.

Um...

Nah. I ain't gonna.

--Blair

"Blair P. Houghton" wrote:
>
> Um...
>
> Spaghetti
>
> Noodles
>
> Marco Polo
>
> Hel-LOOooo...
>
> --Blair
> "They invented fusion."

Apparently the people living in the Italian peninsula were eating
'boiled flour' long before Marco Polo was born.

"Ranee Mueller" > wrote
>
> Although there is some evidence, I'll see if I can dig it up, that it
> wasn't brought over, but rather had been created in Italy independently.
>
> Regards,
> Ranee

Exactly so Ranee. There is no question about it. Except, before that it was
created independently in Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia.........

Charlie

notbob wrote:
> No, really. I get the impression Italians are totally dedicated to
> their own cuisine. You never hear of Italian fusion. I think
> Americans would eat Eskimo if they could get it. But, Italians....
>
> nb ...too many beers

Conversely, do Chinese eat Italian? <G>

Jill

I did a search for Chinese restaurants in Rome, Italy and found 11 listed.
Sincerely yours,
Ed Warren

"jmcquown" > wrote in message
. ..
> notbob wrote:
> > No, really. I get the impression Italians are totally dedicated to
> > their own cuisine. You never hear of Italian fusion. I think
> > Americans would eat Eskimo if they could get it. But, Italians....
> >
> > nb ...too many beers
>
> Conversely, do Chinese eat Italian? <G>
>
> Jill
>
>

Blair P. Houghton wrote:
> Um...
>
> Spaghetti
>
> Noodles
>
> Marco Polo
>
> Hel-LOOooo...

Goood byyye...

Long since discredited.

Pastorio

>>No, really. I get the impression Italians are totally dedicated to
their own cuisine. You never hear of Italian fusion. <<
Sure they do, but like most ethnic cuisines, it gets "Italianized." I
live in an Italian city of 45000 souls including all the rural
community and we have 2 Chinese restaurants. BUT, this being Italy, if
you order something spicy you won't think it's spicy when it arrives.
Warning, howver, you do NOT want to eat in our Mexican restaurant.
Horrid, awful, nasty and made me sick a whole night!
I just don't think taxi drivers are typical enough to testify for a
population. While Italians overwhelmingly eat Italian and appreciate
traditional foods, they also travel and there's a very large expatriate
community and the food gets a try. I have cooked for my Italian
friends Chinese, Indian, USian, French, Thai and Mexican. The only
thing not a success was cole slaw. I do go easy on the chilis, but I
don't bland it out like many restaurants do.

(Glitter Ninja) wrote in news:dtqmls$sa4$2
@news.xmission.com:

> "Benhua!" > writes:
>
>>Ain't no cheese in China!
>
> That reminds me of the Monty Python song "I Like Chinese". At one
> point the lyrics talk about a Chinese take-out menu item as having
> "light cheese". EW. Grosses me out every time.
>

We all have song lyrics that we mishear - I think you'll find the song's
talking about lychees, not light cheese <g>. Coincidentally I actually have
some fresh lychees in the fridge right now. Very nice fruit, though in most
Chinese restaurants they probably use canned ones in the desserts.

http://www.crfg.org/pubs/ff/lychee.html
http://www.lycheesonline.com/

--
Rhonda Anderson
Cranebrook, NSW, Australia

"Rhonda Anderson" > wrote in message
.5...
> (Glitter Ninja) wrote in news:dtqmls$sa4$2
> @news.xmission.com:
>
>> "Benhua!" > writes:
>>
>>>Ain't no cheese in China!
>>
>> That reminds me of the Monty Python song "I Like Chinese". At one
>> point the lyrics talk about a Chinese take-out menu item as having
>> "light cheese". EW. Grosses me out every time.
>>
>
> We all have song lyrics that we mishear - I think you'll find the song's
> talking about lychees, not light cheese <g>. Coincidentally I actually
> have
> some fresh lychees in the fridge right now. Very nice fruit, though in
> most
> Chinese restaurants they probably use canned ones in the desserts.

A friend of DH's owned, maybe stil does, a lychee farm in Florida. At that
time I tried some store-bought lychees and some canned lychees, but the
texture was not to my liking in each case. It may be one of those fruits
that people like when they've been accustomed to it.

Oh, oh, not liking Monty Python? not liking the song, "I like Chinese"? not
liking light cheese on take out?
(My favorite of the songs is the "Galaxy Song." Makes me sooo happy!)
Dee Dee

On Fri, 24 Feb 2006 22:59:08 -0600, notbob wrote:

> No, really. I get the impression Italians are totally dedicated to
> their own cuisine. You never hear of Italian fusion. I think
> Americans would eat Eskimo if they could get it. But, Italians....
>
> nb ...too many beers

Were you shilling for the Sunday Chronicle?


http://tinyurl.com/k8mug
--

Practice safe eating. Always use condiments.

On 26 Feb 2006 03:47:34 -0800, wrote:

> Warning, howver, you do NOT want to eat in our Mexican restaurant.
> Horrid, awful, nasty and made me sick a whole night!

Happily, that's not typical here. Thinking of specific vacations....
I can usually count on Mexican when I can't find a place I want to go
back to a second time (in N. America).
--

Practice safe eating. Always use condiments.

On 2006-02-26, sf > wrote:

> Were you shilling for the Sunday Chronicle?

Screw the Chron and the slow food movement (constipation?). You wanna
see slow food? Come to my house. I've been working on authentic
pozole for 3 weeks!

nb

On Sun, 26 Feb 2006 15:21:29 -0600, notbob wrote:

> On 2006-02-26, sf > wrote:
>
> > Were you shilling for the Sunday Chronicle?
>
> Screw the Chron and the slow food movement (constipation?). You wanna
> see slow food? Come to my house. I've been working on authentic
> pozole for 3 weeks!
>
LOLOL
--

Practice safe eating. Always use condiments.

Bob (this one) wrote:
> Blair P. Houghton wrote:
> > Um...
> >
> > Spaghetti
> >
> > Noodles
> >
> > Marco Polo
> >
> > Hel-LOOooo...
>
> Goood byyye...
>
> Long since discredited.

Well stick a feather in my cap.

http://www.inmamaskitchen.com/FOOD_I...torypasta.html

--Blair

Rhonda Anderson > writes:

>We all have song lyrics that we mishear - I think you'll find the song's
>talking about lychees, not light cheese <g>.

Ha! I had no idea. Possibly because I thought the plural of "lychee"
was "lychee" (no 's'). Or I was way too quick to accuse the English of
putting cheese on everything. Thanks for the clarification. No longer
will I be disgusted by a Python song.

Stacia

Actually, I'd like to see this discussed for more cultures and
groupings within cultures too

In other words, which societies *don't* eat principally their own food?

And how much does that just have to do with rural vs. city living, the
culture itself, being a small country and not having rubbed up to many
other cultures with fairly different foods, whether one is in one's own
country or are travelling or have traveled a lot, age, poverty, and
other factors.

For example, the British have eaten a lot of Indian food in recent
years, and I think also food from their other colonies, but are they
open to other cuisines? And what about other countries? Does anything
make the US different, especially when the whole country is considered
not just the large urban areas?


Diane B.

Do Italians eat Chinese?

They do if they're properly cooked.

Apologies to W.C. Fields.

On 2006-02-28, > wrote:


> open to other cuisines? And what about other countries? Does anything
> make the US different, especially when the whole country is considered
> not just the large urban areas?

It is a good question. Do Chinese eat Italian? It seems to me most
cultures, for the most part, stick soley with there native cuisines. I
would like to eat more Asian food. I think them very healthy cuisines.
But, I'm put off by the overwhelming dominance of soy in near all
dishes. It gets old rather quickly. Same with Mexican food. Chiles
and pinto beans. I just finished a huge pot of posole and am already
sick of it. This is why I eat a different cuisine almost every day.