Why Do People Get So Mad About Italian Food? (ft. QCP)

Today, Josh and Nicole are joined by Gianluca Conte to explore the visceral response society has about Italian Food.

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0:00 Welcome QCP!
2:39 Gabagool & Italian Dialect
4:14 Rules Of Italian Cooking
7:18 Olive Garden
9:45 Spaghetti & Meatballs Don’t Mix
12:25 Angry On Social Media
15:12 Poop Influencer
16:21 QCP’s Favorite Recipe
18:20 Impress Your Date With Magical Ragu
20:05 When Your Dad Is An Italian Chef
23:03 QCP’s Hip Hop Beginnings
24:05 Portraying Italian Cuisine Online
26:09 Rao Vs. Homemade Sauce
27:33 Opinions Are Like Casseroles
28:07 QCP’s Parmesan Song
28:54 Is Italian Food Better Without Meat?
32:38 Chicken & Dumplings & Leeks
37:04 What’s The Best Gluten Free Product?

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Nicole when I was growing up my Nona
would take me to the best hole in the
wall Italian restaurants we’re talking
bread sticks all you can eat salads
tours of Italy that doesn’t sound very
Italian it’s got to be Olive Garden you
said bread sticks no no oliv
Garden this is a hot dog is a sandwich
ketchup is a smoothie yeah I put ice in
my cereal so what that makes no sense
hot dog is a sandwich a hot dog is a
sandwich what Welcome to our podcast a
hot dog is a sandwich the show we break
down the world’s biggest food debates
I’m your host Josh a and I’m your host
Nicole an and today we have a very
special Mostly naked guest joining us
he’s known as qcp AKA Queen City Prince
and no there is not an alternate
backstory to that he’s one of the top
Italian chefs on Tik Tok and author of
The cookbook Italian americ please
welcome John Luka kti thank you so much
thank you so much for saying my name
right for saying it all right thanks for
having me I’m excited to talk about
what’s right and what’s wrong about the
Italian cuisine and who’s right and
wrong well I am I am very curious about
that because as people who have been
creating recipes and videos online all
of us for you know many years at this
point um nobody gets matter in the
comments than Italian people about
Italian food oh yeah and not Italian
people talking about Italian like they
also care more than the Italians
themselves and you’re real deal Italian
like you you got it running through I my
father is from Italy and um that’s
enough right I’m a first generation
Italian people love to be like no you’re
not and then I’m just like who’s
questioning your Italian credentials you
should take a 23 and me and just post it
on the internet and be like I’m Italian
my dad is literally like he how you
doing shot in Italy with your dad like
in his right so funny but what is what
is it specifically about Italian food
that makes people want to gatekeep it I
think it must be because it like was
really brought from it’s one of the only
no that’s not true at all everything’s
been brought over but most things have
kind of stayed the same like a lot of
authentic you know Chinese food Japanese
food has mostly stayed authentic and
Italian food has been completely
converted into its own kind as Italian
amican food um and I think that’s why it
kind of lost its like intensity so
people are mad because they’re like
that’s not Italian like that’s not
that’s Italian that’s not so it must be
that it must be like because it it’s
they have their own language in the
Northeast yeah like they you know they
have a whole translation they took like
a dialect of of southern Italy and
turned it into English so it’s like
they’ve got so much going on people
don’t really no one’s done that in any
other culture so I don’t know why we’re
doing even the term Gaba goul right like
so many people know that as a little
joke from The Sopranos but where it
actually comes from in the language I
talk about this all the time that Italy
was not a country until like the 1880s
it was a bunch of different kingdoms
with different languages that were all
United um but the term Gaba goul it’s
capol all right but then when you go
into Southern dialects like Sicilian
which a l of came over here like the
hard sound softens to a and they would
also drop the last vowel at the end of
words because that’s you know it’s like
pronouncing things pan or pan or there’s
so many Regional dialects yeah where my
father’s from this is exactly true he
has the dialect he’s from isia it’s a
small island off the coast of Naples so
it’s like you’ve got Capri and then you
could literally see isia from there and
the other way around and the Napoli
accent Napolitano accent
is is a complete dialect it’s its own
language they have different spelling
they have different like it’s completely
different and for example mozzarella in
in Italian they say mozarella and then
Napolitano they say like
Moz is the Tony goes mozzarel yeah then
they say mozzarel so it’s like
Kaka like k kapaku whatever the hell
they say it ends up being Gaba gou yeah
so it’s just like but it’s funny you
know I’m trying to like
make things I’m like I want things to be
civil it’s kind of like you’re trying to
unify you’re I’m trying to unify it’s
like galdi man trying to unify the
Italian kingdoms the great hero and the
Italian Americans are trying to do it
too you know they’re really trying their
best but like you know they’re everyone
else cares I want to know since you’re
here repping Italian-American what are
some rules that you think should never
be broken with Italian food what are
like give me like four that you’re just
like don’t ever do this the store bought
shelf grabbed parmesan
cheese is the worst thing like in the
world Farm you don’t like shaky Farm no
we got down with the shaky Farm over
here CRA shaky
Farm it’s just it’s just bad cheese
sawdust like there’s a there’s a lot of
like Italian cuisine is so simple it’s
so it’s it’s very easy and all it
requires is quality ingredients yeah
it’s an expression of yes there is a lot
of other factors like you have to know
how long things
that and cooking but then you you really
mess it up you can make a whole dish and
top it with store-bought sawdust and
it’s going to ruin the whole dish so
that’s what’s important that still goes
into thing dry herbs and all that my
favorite part about that cheese that has
so much chew and so little taste you
know what I mean right it’s it’s an
iconic taste though I must say when you
taste it you know you’re tasting shaky
parm so I would never know I’ve never
even you’ve never tried it before I
don’t think so do we have some in the
fridge I wish course we have some in the
fridge get at the I would love to show
you guys like the like I show you my my
top tier you definitely have had like
par top tier and then like you put the
two next to each other it’s just like oh
it’s incomparable it’s not even worth it
but that’s just one of my thoughts of
things that are wrong there’s plenty
give me one more give me one give me
something about pasta I feel like I’ve
seen on the internet people of course
you can’t break the pasta but sometimes
sometimes the pot isn’t big enough what
are we supposed to do just go buy
another pot here’s the thing if the
water’s boiling enough then the pasta
technically like will get soft quick
enough when you put it in and then you
can like SL what I do is I like take the
the the spider whatever it’s called and
I push it I push the pasta and make it
kind of slip up on the other end so you
even it out so it’s like like a little
there’s a strategy but get a bigger pot
yeah that works in practice but you I
can’t tell you how many times I’ve burnt
the tips of my Linguini because it just
doesn’t push down but you know sometimes
you got to be quick and you got to be
very quick but let me tell you sometimes
broken pasta like in a pinch like it
works you know also burnt Pasta Works
there’s a whole recipe
about burnt thing burnt a little differ
but yeah I’m Pon so we do macaroni where
we literally make a complete tadig which
is the burnt bottom and we flip it over
and it’s the most delicious pasta dish
ever that’s such a sick dish and I never
thought about it in terms of like pasta
alasas because you’re doing the same you
know and we break the pasta in that too
but also that’s again it’s like a it’s
an iteration of what Italians do and you
know whenever it goes there so many
different things you get something like
macaroni which is completely out of left
field but it still hearkens back to
Italian recipes yeah well in my culture
uh white trash pennsylvanians you see
with some menite cousins that might have
been involved in
organizing je I’ve never had Jewish
spaghetti I’ve
hadash must be your only choice out
there oh my God I’ll tell you what Olive
Garden was absolutely that was the
fanciest restaurant I’ve been to growing
up but then now tasting it as somebody
who knows anything about food they don’t
salt their pasta water you know they you
got this there’s a lot of things I went
recently too because I did a video with
somebody who we compared the worst and
the best Italian restaurant in New York
City and we started at Olive Garden and
then we went to like a 4.9 out of five
open table like top tier’s it called
which one the good one yeah uh I don’t
know why I’m I’m kind of I’m blanking um
I did a video was with Jack’s dining
room I don’t know if You’ seen his he
does reviews um but basically the the
difference in the video is one of the
crazi you we pick up you pick up the
ravioli at Olive Garden and it’s like
the bottom is there’s no sauce even on
the bottom like I don’t even know how
they did that yeah they like they pull
it out of the thing and it’s they just
put some sauce over it and they serve it
to you and that’s my culture and no for
real like the bread sticks too I’m like
everyone loves it but like it’s they get
solid they get rock hard you don’t eat
it in 30 seconds and like they literally
found that out like an investment firm
literally did an audit on the Olive
Gardens practices and they were like hey
we notice that you just serve six bread
sticks to three people and then after 30
seconds they’re awful um what if you
just serve one at a time and they’re
like nah and they’re like well we
noticed you don’t salt your pasta water
what if you did that because 80% of
people who ate it said it doesn’t taste
like anything I know I know so well that
they don’t use like decent quality
tomato sauce or anything they’re not on
the quality
business tomato sauce is so cheap where
it’s like three cents more per pallet
you get like 10 times better of like
those
margins going to leave here to work for
Olive Garden corporate great take take
all the olives out of the salad we’re
losing money on the olives we’ll remove
three almonds we’ll save billions there
are a lot of Italian American dishes so
I I lived with two Italian soccer
hooligans in college uh and they were
fantastic I learned so much about were
they from the Northeast they were both
from Rome oh oh actually from Italy okay
okay yeah oh yeah yeah yeah no uh fullon
like just came to try and get into the
movie industry from Rome and so they
would have their parents uh send
espresso olive oil and tomato sauce cute
because those are the three things that
like we can’t get that anywhere here but
they had so many rules they were
horrified by all these Italian American
dishes once I made myself spaghetti and
meatballs and then they’re like the
bread is already in the meat what are
rules that Italians would say that you
shouldn’t do with food uh that you think
in the Italian-American context is
really dank like chicken parm is a huge
one there’s so many weird things that
don’t make any sense it’s it’s like
meatballs meatballs are fine meatballs
are very Italian but not with pasta so
you cannot put spaghetti with meatballs
that’s one
thing chicken and pasta is another no is
another rule there chicken you don’t put
chicken anywhere near there’s no tusin
style that’s not true then the the
biggest one is just cream at all in any
pasta so it’s like there’s no milk in
pasta but you can take like five balls
of Bata which is full of milk you slap
it all over your food and it’s it’s not
cream so it’s like there’s a lot of
different things but like to me I think
it’s I think it’s kind of ridiculous and
I like for for my father being like the
authentic side and then me like living
in the US my whole life and seeing the
other side of it was why I like wanted
to even make this book to have both of
them together that was like a reason why
I made a cookbook was I was like let’s
let’s let’s make this civil because
they’re all good like they’re no M both
sides of it are really good dishes and
and they just have different they’re
just not tradition
yeah carbonara with peas and ham can
exist I one of my dad’s Italian friends
is how that’s how he does it you know
and that’s his part of Italy does it and
my dad’s doesn’t you know we don’t have
to have a war in in Italy mad over it
maybe we can just be friends chicken all
about chicken parmesan predates
carbonara that’s the thing that a that
messes a lot of people up like it was
invented in the US correct chicken parm
nobody actually knows the I think the
first time I’ve seen it imprint was like
1930s I’m Benjamin butning I’ve been
existing for a long time and car was
1944 bloger and historian Luca jez say
carar was born in Rome around 1944 just
after the liberation of the city that’s
the thing all these things that we we
associate Italy with this like ancient
history which is true in so many regards
but we almost like take out its ability
to modernize because we say this isn’t
authentic you can’t put cream in that
carbonara it’s like that dish is
literally there are more rules to
chicken parmesan than there are
carbonara right it’s an older dish and
that was an immigrant dish from you know
Southern Italian immigrants in in New
York City you know that’s great it’s a
diverse wealth of uh delicious things
and nobody needs to gatekeep how do
humorous how how much depth there is in
this in this convers in the conversation
the argument of Italian food it’s just
like it’s intense you know and there’s
so much history behind people get mad
yeah people get very mad who’s the
maddest person you’ve encountered about
Italian food
my I know a lot of the times I just I
try I try not to learn the the full
thing like it’ll be in Italian a lot of
the times and I see a couple words in
the mix and I’m
like yeah that one that one I know is
not good like but then then there’s the
other side of it there’s some people
that are most of the people that are
from Italy like they see me posted they
just laugh they’re like great video you
know like who cares like they there’s
some who care more than others and like
and like I was saying a lot of the time
it ends up just being like some person
behind their phone who saw one video of
it being done authentically then they
see someone else do it in like not
authentic and then they’re like you’re
wrong and it’s like yeah sure but like I
didn’t say authentic carbonara and the
and if I did and then I was wrong blame
me but then we’ll make an I’m sorry
video on YouTube get millions of views
exactly I personally follow um a an
Instagram reals page cuz I’m not on Tik
Tok and it’s called um you’re not better
than me a little bit it’s called Uh
Italian is being mad at food and it’s
just people it’s reaction videos and it
is insane how much traction just this
passionate intense hatred of what
someone is doing makes on the it’s all
what is it called it’s like rage bait
yeah it’s like rage bait videos but you
can’t stop watching them because there’s
something about it that’s just oh yeah
watching somebody react to somebody
doing something extremely incorrect yeah
I love it shout out to Chef reactions
man yeah he’s he’s hilarious he’s like
Corner the market on it but it’s just
it’s incredible to watch people just get
so mad at some like I was watching this
video of someone in Italy
pouring water from their water bottle
into an espresso and someone behind them
just looking at them like what are you
doing and I just love those kinds of
videos so much and I think other people
on the internet love watching it as well
just that rage bity in your face like
I’m here to make you mad there are so
many things in Italy if you order a
cappuccino past 12:00 p.m. you’re
considered like insane and that’s just
like a thingo is that 400 p.m. uh your
digestive system doesn’t it girl you’re
slamming lactates I see you got a drawer
full of lact I don’t do lactates anymore
I don’t really drink milk anymore she’s
built it she’s built drink mil anymore
no longer I drink lactose free milk now
I’m about the fair life milk it has
extra protein in it JH I do too oh the
fair life milk wait how do we get how do
we all collectively get that sponsorship
cuz the macros on that milk I made a
video where I had like lactate in the
video like the pills and I made like a
mac and cheese like 2 years ago that was
full of a bunch of cheese the video had
like 25 million views on Tik Tok and
then I was just like what have I what
have I done I just gave them so much
free promo but you know it is what it is
let’s get sponsored by Fair life and
loate two for one well I I tried to get
a sponsorship from uh Sunset prunes
Squatty Potty and tushi Beday and then I
was going we got the tushies we got the
tushies well that’s why and we had a
meeting with sunset prunes I love prunes
great simple carbs after a workout keep
regular Shir looks like a prune today
yeah that’s this is me trying to
subliminally message eat prunes but I
wanted to call my myself I have to curse
once I have I wanted to call myself a
[ __ ] fluenc
prun you’re the poop guy turn me into
the poop guy all food turns into poop
eventually when have you guys seen The
Poop guy there’s a poop guy on Instagram
who’s the poop guy no he’s just a guy
from New York who like makes a joke that
people order poop at the
deli let me get two scoops of poop yeah
can I get a you know chato roll with the
he like a hero with a little moradel and
scoop of
poop he’s like that all right the bits
the bits to take off man yeah and now
like he literally only does poop content
and like and he has fake slaps of poop
he does like little he does things where
he’s like meets somebody in public gives
them a little he’s like you need your
poop I got you poop he’s he’s going yeah
I think I’m glad I didn’t get the three
poop Infinity Stones to turn myself into
the poop influencer cuz then I would
have been really a pigeon hold and we
couldn’t talk about like the you know
liberation of all the Italian city
states in 1889 seriously uh what is like
the recipe in here that you’re most
proud of that like says this is the
Italian American Experience the Italian
like one there’s no there’s not like one
that combines the both like together I
guess cuz I have I have like every
recipe has an Italian flag or the United
States flag identifying whether it’s
Italian or Italian Amic SI um so I guess
it’s kind of harder to answer um rather
I mean there’s it’s pretty cool like
there’s just so there there’s kind of
almost every auth authentic Italian like
basic it’s all I have all the basics in
this book so I’d say my favorite like
Ian American recipe is probably which is
which is crazy is is lasagna like my
lasagna regular lasagna bolog is just
like it’s it’s they’re all easy but time
is what throws people off on anything
but it’s like the experience and the
result is what is great I mean I it’s so
hard for me to choose favorites but my
favorite authentic Italian which is my
father’s recipe but it’s obviously it’s
like you know you can say it’s your
father’s recipe but a lot of people will
do it the same and a lot of people say
that that’s not from Naples and that’s
from bolognia that we do and then they
people fight about this stuff like we
said but it’s definitely the Ragu
napolitana like slow cooked short rib um
beef chuck and sausage it slow cooks for
3 hours and then once it’s done you
throw in your pasta and it’s like it
everything melts it creates like a brown
almost like I can’t even describe the
color is it super tomato or Rusty like a
rust that it’s yeah more Rusty because
you’re not you know you use I’ll use one
can of whole peeled Tomatoes just kind
of crush them up take out the stems and
then let that let that boil and then all
of a sudden you see it changing its
color and then the sauce just becomes
it’s the meat and the bone broth and
everything that like just melts and it
makes just the craziest flavor like just
such a unique intense just a but it
takes 3 hours and that’s what’s scar but
it’s like you have to do it to impress
somebody I think that’s I think that’s
where it matters most it’s like do you
really want to impress your date or
whatever that night if you have someone
over for dinner take the one that do the
one that like you have it cooking they
walk in they’re like waa what are you
cooking and that happened to me once
only time somebody has ever cooked for
cuz I would normally dating back to
college I would like always cook for
girls on dates cuz that what an easy way
to impress somebody like lamb chops but
anyways this one girl was like let me
cook for you and it always would go
badly because I don’t know how to cook
cuz or 19 I was also 19 to be clear um
but anyways but I remember walking into
her apartment she called her dad they
Italian American and she called her dad
and he told her like his Sunday grade
recipe and it has this giant pot and
it’s bubbling white and I look in there
and there’s just like whole beef bones
like neck dude neck and straight up
neckbone roasted no roast it was roasted
pork neck and then beef and then there
was VE and then there were sausages to
this day I have never had a better like
red sauce experience holy smokes that
was so incredible and the thing is is
like people don’t understand that you
can do like oh my God how simple I can I
can say how you cook it in like make it
in in 15 seconds it’s like braze the
meat take it like olive oil braze the
meat take it out vegetables goes in
sauté sauce meat goes back in or red
wine meat goes back in let it simmer
you’re done but it’s just like time 3
hours like there’s quick easy steps but
it’s all about the time ah I don’t want
to do that but it won’t taste as good
yeah exactly things can taste good in 30
minutes of course 25 sometimes 15 but
it’s not the same experience at all um
that’s why that’s like one of my
favorites is the regu yeah and that’s
where like love comes into cooking right
it’s that effort it’s that time I’ve
come to peace with that for sure over
time cuz at first was very lazy lazy
lazy like I got to I want to make a
video make it fast I don’t care what it
tastes like my dad we’ve been there
before too yeah John Luka what are you
doing this is embarrassing you need to
make it better your dad called you out
yeah yeah he’d be like why you use
puneta go find Guan you know oh no yeah
you know the amount of times I said the
phrase if you can’t find guali Bacon’s
fine yeah that one I Won’t Say I’m like
Panetta’s fine like but no that’s that’s
funny but your dad like the guardian of
uh he has four restaurants so he
he has forever so since before I was
born he said he had his first restaurant
in 1995 when my first sister was born
and then he he he’s had a a restaurant
for every child that he’s had like the
same year which is pretty cool and um so
yeah I mean that’s where I have another
standard is I got to keep up with him
restaurant for father yeah yeah yeah and
and uh I guess it’s Destiny to be doing
the food stuff the Queen City
Prince he’s actually the king of Queen
City because he’s he’s had his
restaurants in Charlotte since before I
was born and he’s been the best did you
grow up like cooking with him at the
restaurants or were you not really it
was like I didn’t start cooking until
2019 so like I’m I’m only this many
years in but like every day how old were
you when you realized like I’m going to
do food literally 19 so it was like same
yeah so like I I I kind of made a video
not like not many people know this I
made a video making fun of people from
New Jersey like the Jersey shores like
if the Jersey had a cookie show cuz
right now I’m not talking like this but
like I used to literally talk like that
and uh people thought that’s who I was
and it’s such a Beyond character it’s
like no way that that’s a real person um
so then I made this video kind of but
the thing was yes it was like the first
time I made a I made like not made first
time making pasta first time I like at
least filmed it but maybe it was like my
my 10th time ever even cooking for
myself at 19 years old but because I had
seen my my mom’s an incredible Chef my
father’s an incredible Chef I’ve watched
them I’ve been walking around holding my
dad finger when I was 2 years old like
walking around the kitchen like I’ve
been seeing it my whole life so when it
came time to doing it I was like this is
so easy and it got easier and easier and
I would watch a quick little video or
something to figure it out then it got
to a point where it was enough of trying
to figure it out and watch of it call
Dad because like he will actually tell
me how to do it the right way um so he’s
the one that helped me like make it more
and care more and and actually do things
correctly and grow the love that I have
and um yeah I mean I’ve got I’ve got
recipes from my my dad from my both my
grandparents like grandmothers on both
sides from my mom I’ve I’ve hit it all
like from my yeah so she’s half middle
eastern half um she’s half Syrian half
Italian very nice so much nothing from
no no but my my grandmother’s got
incredible cuz it was her husband that U
my grandpa that was Syrian and they did
you know it was either Italian night or
Syrian night with her um but yeah I’ve
learn I learned it all from to be honest
so it’s cool to be able to put that out
there that’s beautiful what would you
have been doing if not for food was
there something else on the horizon that
you were like this is another place I’m
going to and then the food bug just
bitcher ironically I was making music
and I kind of made a Tik Tok to like
promote it and then I was kind of music
EDM no like kind of like hip-hop why you
assume Nicole because I love I listen to
EDM music I listen to EDM music continue
just it was it was just like hip-hop and
just just it was fun I was like the
rapper in my high school kind of and
like and then I went on there to promote
it and then I ended up just like making
a bunch of skits and then like hundreds
of videos later after I I had like
700,000 800,000 followers before 2020 um
which was before I made my first cooking
video so people don’t know that I had a
big had a good following especially at
the time it was a lot harder to grow
following like there’s not that many
people on the platform in 2019 so I had
like a pretty good following people
followed me for just whatever came out
of my ADHD brain was what they would see
and um then the cooking video was kind
of another one of those videos which
then I ended up doing more and more and
more and more until it I was like this
is all I’m going to do uh which was in
2020 so can you drop your
SoundCloud H is it still there I think
it’s qcp I think it’s but D it’s old
music it’s old music can we license some
of it to make like a new theme song for
this podcast yeah I can I can can send
you uh I can send you like one song that
I that I’m like I think would be really
would be a good fit oh hell yeah or I
mean I have it on my phone but like I
made a song called pasta in a
Lamborghini that I didn’t I didn’t
release all of it was really like poorly
developed and it was just it was more
for fun but people liked it um so funny
you know had a small following for that
but here we are I remember I remember
the first video that I saw you was
actually on Twitter of all places but I
mean it was it was mostly like a thirst
video um you know uh but uh you were
like smoking you know I if it was like
botini or you were like smoking it but
it was very like character dress cuz
like you said that’s what was meant to
be that was definitely like 2020 me yeah
yeah the early days I’m do like
screaming like that like I was like and
then as I would watch my own videos I’d
be like settle down but it’s funny
because you have like taken the full
loop now where like you can tell how
much heart and how much love you have
for specifically Italian American food
and Italian food in general and that
you’re able to like now put Family
Recipes into this book so many people
start online with a little bit of a
caricature and then all they do is
escalate the caricature I mean not to no
shade to the poop guy this guy you know
he’s walking around with fake poop now
you know start off as a funny little
joke and now he’s got fake poop whereas
you kind of want the opposite of like
this caricature and then now you’re I
mean you’re like a fully FL it was a lot
easier for me to fall in love with the
idea knowing that like my it’s my family
it’s what they do like my dad’s a
restaurant tour like you know it’s like
my my life has always been about that so
it’s like how hard is it to to be like
this is the right thing like you’re
doing the right thing was is it easier
to to say let’s do this thing because
this book is growth in maturity I love
it absolutely I’ve got the I’ve got
everything in there know the stories the
kid the photos of me when I was I was a
kid’s baby pictures in here okay I’m
going to pop it see like the first the
third meanwhile I’m going give some
Italian food hot tastes go for go for it
I think 99% of people can’t make better
homemade red sauce than a jar of
Ros 99% 99.9% I think a jar
of about oh the Italians getting mad
about food I’m
kidding um I don’t think I’ve ever had
it get the hell out of you’ve never had
the rce no I’ve had like other more home
homey versions look at it so cute
drinking milk yeah no that’s actually
that’s a like a like a coconut I don’t
know some weird coconut drink that I
liked that’s really yeah there’s some
baby stuff me drinking olive oil very
nice solid yeah yeah it’s it’s a fun
book there’s a lot of cool stuff in
there a lot of cool features incredible
man uh well thank you so much for taking
the time uh there’s a ton of Love p in
this cookbook I’m going to actually cook
from it do we have a copy will you sign
it yeah can I have one yeah can I have
your apron you want to trade aprons do
like a jersey swap yeah I mean am my
left we should make a video of it we
should make a video of it oh yeah we
absolutely do why not well all you have
to do is just uh make things right in
the Italian cuisine and people no
they’ll always come after you oh they’re
going to come yeah if you make it if you
make spaghetti the Italians will come or
if you scream at them loud enough like
me they just don’t have a choice they’re
just like all right let him do his thing
you’re
right don’t want to put in any work
whatsoever but still want Italian food
ASAP the spork team tasted and rink
every single rail’s frozen meal head
over to spark.com to find out of lasagna
beats chicken
parm Nicole and John LCA we’ve heard
what you and I have to say now it’s time
to find out what other wacky ideas are
rattling out there in the universe well
it’s time for a segment we call opinions
are like
[Music]
casserole anyways we got a lovely music
video queued up that we got to watch 20c
music video I’m so I created the song
and and edited this this very quick
funny not funny music video excited now
don’t Demir don’t play Coy we got to
watch it 6 years ago I created a song
about parmesan called parmesan dreams
please enjoy his cinematic experience
about
[Music]
parmesan oh yeah what do
you oh my goodness this so dramatic when
you crack open wheel I mean that was
beautiful Experience beat was fire we
can we can all agree on that yeah yeah
fire who produced It lyrics are off the
you know it’s six years ago emphasis on
six years how old were you six years ago
18 17 18 yeah hey now that’s a banger of
a first track got to show it thank you
10 out of 10 thanks so much on dreams
light up that first opinion hey Josh and
Nicole big fan I’m a big fan of you
anyway can I go most Italian food almost
all Italian food in fact is better
without any meat H the only major
exception is seafood Italian dishes
you’re cowards if you don’t play this on
the
show well we’re not cowards I’m
definitely not a coward only because
you’re playing it on the show what do
you think about that I don’t no I don’t
get it I think I know where they’re
coming from them do you mean like look a
tomato sauce without any meat a cream
sauce without any meat pesto without any
meat I think they’re they’re I think
they are thinking of like chicken
fetuccini alfredo if I had to guess but
what I love about Italian food is they
tend to use Meats as a way to flavor
other things absolutely other than like
RAV Andis and talinis other than filled
pastas depends if the quality of
everything else is like great mhm and
then it it could be accompanied by a
great quality if you get bad beef or
something like it’s not it’s going to
ruin it like for sure for sure I I I I
kind of get it I kind of don’t yeah I
feel like those are just very separate
things like the Italian dishes are are
themselves like on their own and then
there’s a separate dish that has meat in
it you know like yeah you can have a
vegetarian lasagna it’s going to taste
like one thing you’ll have one with meat
it’ll taste like that’s just another if
I said the phrase meatball salad does
that mean anything to you she talking
about meatball salad so I’m I’m going to
talk about meatball salads well no no no
one would maybe think I believe jumbo
shrimp is an oxymoron but meatball salad
is not so I went to I inexplicably had
like two back-to-back weddings uh in
Morristown New Jersey and my fiance grew
up in Long Island but she grew up
vacationing at the Jersey Shore in like
Margate area and so we were in Jersey
for 10 days and when I go to a place I
want to find the most regionally
specific foods that I can and so you
know I got the original sloppy joe in
Jersey I had you know uh pork roll
sandwiches on the shore um all this
stuff but one thing I saw was meatball
salad and I and I and I didn’t ask tiny
no so what it is it’s just a side of
like a very Olive gardeny looking salad
and then like three meatballs on the
plate just kind of plop next to it and
some of the sauce gets in the lettuce
but I remember asking somebody about
that who was from Jersey and they said
yeah they said it’s because you know uh
spaghetti meatball is very Italian
American dish but a lot of the nonas
they’d be like you don’t eat meat with
pasta you eat me meat with vegetables
right and so the vegetables that they
were serving that time were a very
American salad like that and the meat
was the uh the pul Pete okay and so
they’d be like yeah I’m going to eat my
vegetables with my meat and then that
became T bad but I think like you just
serve it separately you know it’s like
you go up and you choose whether you
want a salad or if you want some meat
then Nona gots to wash another dish you
know people are taking it out like
people are taking out the meatballs and
then removing the pieces with the sauce
on it and then they’re like yeah the hot
and the cold it wils the thing is it has
to have a let me tell you what are they
using like an iceberg mix big time the
hardest Iceberg see if if it’s paired
with like an arugula or something that
can withstand it I think that makes more
sense because when they Wilt it’s
Pleasant Iceberg wilted not that
pleasant but arugula or spinach or even
like massage kale once it like the heat
touches it it is a more pleasant eating
experience like Apple mode you just got
to go quick you know before the ice
cream melts while the temperature
difference is still I like apple pie
actually I’m not a big apple pie person
next opinion hey Josh hey
Nicole I got something that might be a
little controversial oh really but uh it
I think chicken and dumplings it doesn’t
need celery it doesn’t need carrots it
doesn’t need peas it needs leaks oh
leaks are fantastic leaks are
you know of the onion family which I
love Al um I think more people need to
do leaks in their chicken and dumplings
oh and by the way I love you guys um you
guys are both I pride myself on being
funny but you might be funnier than me
anyway get the hell out now I love him
love your show you want me to love you
just P me one compliment have you had
chicken and dumplings before I have had
it I like it but but like I’ve never
made it I don’t I don’t I cook literally
only Italian food and then like steak
and like protein by itself when you go
out to eat like what do you like to eat
though oh I mean I eat I eat Everything
Sushi Mexican food awesome like
everything yeah usually so you’ve never
had chicken and dumplings or have CRA
had at Cracker Barrel F they have
carrots in theirs right I don’t remember
it’s very chicken pot pesque right yeah
yeah they supposed to be kind of like
chicken pot pie like soup well okay so
let’s bring this back to Italian food
have you ever had the creamy noi soup
from the Olive Garden oh my God have you
had it that sounds awful no I’ve only
been to Olive Garden twice ever the
first time was like was like 8 years ago
literally and I don’t think I got
anything I think I only ate the Caesar
salad the most recent time was when we
did the Food review and the food review
was oh my gosh like if I showed you guys
if we pulled it up you’d be like wow
because like when you see the difference
it’s like
crazy soup it’s just chicken and
dumplings I got food poisoning last time
I went actually I think I think I think
they’re hitting at a point though
there’s a lot of people that I I have
this uh big Vendetta against the French
weird they’re still freedom priz to me
no um but uh I don’t know know if you’re
old enough to get that reference no I
just was like oh my God we’ll talk about
it I think it was Nicolas sarosi refused
to back George Bush in the war Terror
over fries and so they called it no no
no but like in the in the White House
they refused to call it french fries
they would call it fre fries I don’t
think it was the White House I think it
was um in red states that adds up really
I went to a burger restaurant in
Oklahoma that still had freedom fries
listed on the menu wow incred so funny
but so many
think that you need to add Mira celery
onion carrot to any dish to quote make
it half flavor you can add anything dude
I’ll use Swiss CH stem in there that’s a
great aromatic leaks the king of the
onion family that’s a great aromatic you
can do anything you want you don’t have
to compulsorily add anything that you
want into an aromatic that you don’t
want to not at all I agree so actually
I’m a huge chicken and dumplings fan but
if we’re talking Italian food like of
course you have to because there’s only
one way to do
everything for chicken and dum I’ve had
multiple iterations of it and some of
the best I’ve had is just a pure chicken
and salt broth without any vegetables
talk about the dolly part recip the
Dolly Parton pure expression I want get
sick just to eat that right I know right
it is so good it is like the most
beautiful expression of chicken and
warmth and happiness that I’ve ever had
and then there’s some people that you
know they make it like Down Home Country
they put everything in there they put
carrot celery onion yada yada yada and
it’s so good and thick and beautiful I
have never had it with leaks but I do
think leaks would be phenomenal in it
because I freaking love leaks especially
a lot of them a lot of leaks I just
think leaks are the unsung hero of the
aliam family and more people need to be
enjoying leaks I scarred my body with it
I can’t get buried in Jewish cemetery
now Nicole yeah
it New York Yankees the fact you beat it
like I don’t have any I don’t have like
tat me either I don’t have any tattoos
either you know I’m either going to get
bet on on like you know my butt cheek or
like a meatball or like a pasta what
what do people say why would you put a
bumper sticker on a Ferrari on a Bentley
Bentley Kim Kardashian quote Yeah Yeah
if it’s like do you have any tattoos
she’s like you can’t put a bumper
sticker on a Bentley if it’s like a
really funny bumper sticker I’m doing
it’s like my other cars you know
something like that yeah I’m doing it I
I think I stopped adding carrots to most
of my soups made them better carrots too
sweet too sweet too sweet I like peas in
My Soup nice savory beef with red wine
you’re adding sugar to it nah get the
hell out of here roast the carrot
separately if you want them next okay
sassy hi Nicole hi John this is May I’m
a teacher in Omaha and I wanted your
opinion on the best type of
glutenfree products my partner is
glutenfree and we have found the the two
best things that we buy all the time are
the U pancakes from Trader Joe’s and the
Supreme gluten-free pizza from C
looking for new suggestions so please
let us know your thoughts love the Pod
thank you it’s another one that I I’m
not really a part of banza pasta have
you had a banza pasta I hate bza pasta
yeah I’ve had it all I can think of all
I can think of his foam mhm yes all the
foam the aquafaba when you get into the
that realm of of like I’ve seen sort of
the backend development of like of
gluten-free pasta and vegetable based
pasta and stuff it’s really difficult to
make like a really good product so hard
whoever whoever ends up really doing
I’ve heard there’s some good ones but I
just feel like you know they got to do
better branding or something people need
to know yeah there there are certain
things so when I moved in with my fiance
and you know you you combine households
and always ways but you also combine
pantries and I’m cooking almost all the
meals for us and so she’s one of those
people that if she ate pasta it was
always bandza pasta she was like there’s
protein and no gluten whatever um if she
ate tortillas it was always a whole
wheat tortilla and I come in and I’m
like as like a chef I’m I don’t want to
budge on any of these things but you had
to make concessions and so I kept the
whole wheat tortillas but I instituted
just normal semolina Durham flour pasta
and that was you know my trade-off
that’s night and day for me pasta is
gluten like it you know you can get I
love I love rice noodles I love stir
fried you know Chow story but entirely
different I recuse myself from the
glutenfree debate I can talk about this
a little bit um you’re going to have to
help them out so Trader Joe’s really
does a great job I would say the two
best gluten-free items are the
gluten-free uh chicken mini tacos one of
my girlfriends she’s very Celiac and
very gluten-free and she eats these like
candy like she’s obsessed with them eats
them like three times a week and then
also their grainless granola is
phenomenal delicious nuts honey seeds
delicious other than that I mean I’m not
a big bons of pasta fan unless it’s for
pasta salad is it not pronounced banza I
don’t know banza bonsa I don’t know I
couldn’t tell you but uh other than that
I don’t know that much about gluten-free
but those two are fantastic products
gluten-free or Not My overall opinion on
this though is if you are
gluten-free you now just just eat like a
Japanese person right like a like a like
a feudal Japanese warlord you probably
live longer anyway 100% you’re eating
rice you’re eating uh pickles like real
fermented suono pickles and you’re
eating fish and that’s great or you’re
eating like a prehispanic Mexican you
know
uhad conistor you’re eating nixtamalized
corn they have no they weren’t growing
wheat there you know just eat like that
and you know you eat corn tortillas and
delicious gados yeah eat before
globalization came that’s a good life no
but I’m saying like go to the cultures
that did not eat gluten to figure out
what to eat when you’re trying to make
gluten-free pizza it’s a losing battle
yeah you know I was when I think about
it all I feel like people have asked me
this question before like would you
marry someone who’s just fully
gluten-free I’m thinking about all those
times that were in Italy everywhere
around the world that they just can’t
I’ll tell you something I eat like uh
what there’s someone out there for you
but it might not be me I eat everything
my husband does not and I thought it was
the biggest deal I was like I want me
and my husband to enjoy delicious sh
board like that’s my future goal like we
drink wine and eat sh cudie together and
just enjoy life it is so insignificant
in the grand scheme of things I’m just
telling you as a 30-year-old oh you’re
going to end up with a beautiful oh my a
princess eating princess no glutenfree
she’s going to be glutenfree oh Alo
you’re going to be
in a air only con like Brean a Brean
you’re going to have to ask the server
at this beautiful esian restaurant just
like is this glutenfree and then they’re
going to judge you this a
gluten cuss you out and you’re going to
love each other so much oh my God
beautiful large Suns cooking the
gluten-free
raviol nah no o for
me on that note thank you so much for
tuning into a hot dog as the sandwich we
got new episodes every Wednesday and we
got new episodes out on YouTube on
Sunday hot dogs are a sandwich thank you
gra if you want to be featured on
opinions or like cast rolls hit up hit
us up at 833 dogod 1 our number again is
833 dogod 1 and everyone make sure to
check out Johan Lucas’s brand new
cookbook Italian American uh so much One
Stop Shop for all your Italian americ
recipes don’t worry about it where can
the people find you plug your handle at
it’s qcps qcp all platforms it’s very
hard to miss it that’s including
SoundCloud make sure we’re bringing it
back I just removed all my music on
Spotify
[Music]