Professor Luca Coniglio investigates the Italian experience with “Italian” food in American Restaurants. Is it really that disgusting or are they exaggerating a bit? Let’s find out together!
⏰ Timecodes ⏰
00:00 Intro
00:46 First video from Vincenzo’s Plate
04:16 Second video from AS/IS
07:09 Third video from Carlo and Sarah
12:30 Fourth video from Jessi&Alessio
18:48 Conclusions
⚡WATCH MY OTHER VIDEOS!⚡
The (Northern) Italian emigration to Brazil
6 differences between Northern and Southern Italy
5 differences between Italians and Italian Americans
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27 Comments
È vero che al nord, in passato, ci si nutriva principalmente di polenta e che tutt'oggi rimane una parte importante della nostra tradizione culinaria ma mangiamo anche altre cose. Sinceramente, pur essendo lombarda, da piccola la polenta non mi piaceva tanto e sono riuscita ad apprezzarla solo in età adulta. Mah. A casa nostra si mangiava la polenta solo la domenica (e altri giorni di festa) e in famiglia non si vedeva l'ora di sedersi a tavola per consumarla … tranne me. Sorse il dubbio che fossi stata scambiata alla nascita in ospedale😂😉
I loved your reactions to the American Italian foods. These restaurants are usually owned by Americans trying to mimic stereotypes of Italian food. I bet there aren't even any italians in the kitchen making the food. It's very funny.
Funny video Prof!!😂
Love your videos. I learn a lot from your historical videos. Infinite grazie. 🙏🏻
After many years living in the USA, I’ve come to realize that a “Northern Italian Restaurant” (or food) really means NON-traditional Italian/American food you’d find in (say) Olive Garden. It also doesn’t mean the food is from northern Italy…just it’s NOT traditional Italian-American food, like spaghetti and meatballs. 🍝
Hahaha I love your passionate dislike of America's Italian food. It's the same here in Australia but I didn't realize that until I ate genuine Italian food on our trip there in 2023. You can't beat authenticity.
Real Italian food is usually easy to cook but ingredients have to be fresh and genuine and technique is very important. Also not too many ingredients in a a dish.
Remember, you are what you eat.
Italians get upset when they see their cuisine being cheapened by bad imitations and bad ingredients.
Ciao professore! Grazie per i tuoi video! Un abbraccio da Prescott Arizona ❤
Had fun watching this tonight, still enjoying learning history but this video was a nice surprise.
My dear professor…I must say you are most disingenuous with this video.
First you are showing vignettes of reactions to what appears to be lousy Italian food posted by other YouTubers. Your motivation is suspect.
Second, apparently you are intent on ridiculing.
Third you have already established that Italians in the US are not Italians from Italy so why are you now comparing so called Italian American food with that of Italy? Are you making an attempt to mock US citizens of Italian decent? Are you intent on showing us as ignorant of Italian culture because you don’t understand or like some silly food items featured in the US as Italian?
Fourth, where did you ever get the idea that macaroni and cheese is Italian American?
Fifth, how did you come to think the restaurant is Italian? Notwithstanding how it may be marketed it is a reasonably priced chain restaurant offering its version of Italian food at affordable prices. Not everyone can afford to dine out let alone at expensive restaurants. When they do go out they tend to express gratitude for their meal and restaurant experience much like the women were doing. Not every one of Italian ancestry eats garlic bread despite your stereotypical opinions.
You used those women to mock us and in doing so, showed them disrespect.
The anger and sarcasm you displayed in describing how some dishes are prepared illustrates this.
Our ancestors did the best they could with the limited ingredients and resources they had available when they came to the US in the late 1890s and early 1900’s. Too bad you didn’t get to meet any of them. Those were times of austerity of which you are clearly are unaware. And if meatballs became to large by Italian standards what difference does it make?
You professor are boorish and uninformed. You say you don’t want to be judgmental but you are throughout your video. While you might have spent some time in the US you have not learned much about how things evolved for people of Italian descent. Unlike those Italians who chose to remain in Italy our ancestors came here penniless and had to fight for survival in a strange place with a foreign language while
others remained in their native land.
You discredit yourself as an “expert”. While you may be regarding Argentina or Brazil you are clearly not expert in the plight of Italians who came to the US or how we have evolved. You demonstrate that with your condescending remarks and sarcastic laugh.
You apparently misunderstand the plight of Americans of Italian decent. Incidentally, grits are ground white cornmeal predominantly eaten in the US south. It is not polenta. Very delicious with eggs for breakfast. And if you are tasting fennel in the meatballs it’s usually because the chef used sausage with fennel to mix with beef rather than pork and veal simply because sausage is cheaper and that’s what was available.
I am second generation Italian American whose ancestors came from Abruzzo and Calabria around 1910. My grandfather even served in the US army in WW1 and my father and 4 uncles served in world war 2 fighting the Nazis who had aligned with Mussolini. My grandfather’s meatballs were large and contained minced garlic. And they were delicious. We are proud of our heritage and the effort we put in maintaining it as authentically as possible. We struggle now to find recipes for holiday foods such as cuccidati, a type of cookie stuffed with figs, chocolate or cici that our Calabrian grandmothers made. You mocked our well intended efforts to maintain our Italian heritage through our food whether prepared to your liking or not.
You have gone out of your way to ridicule Italian Americans and some of the food we eat without understanding that true Italian ingredients like you have in Italy are not necessarily what you will get outside of Italy. If you were intending to be humorous you missed the mark.
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COME TO NYC..BETTER ITALIAN FOOD THAN IN ITALY.
Mac and Cheese is NOT AN ITALIAN AMERICAN DISH…YOU'RE LYING !!!!
First of all, there are very few, if any authentic Italian restaurants in America. Restaurants that claim to serve “Italian food” should actually be designated as “ Italian American restaurants.” There are interesting academic studies cataloging the history and development of this unique “ Italian American cuisine “.
The vast majority of Americans, even “ Italian Americans” have never been to Italy and have never experienced authentic Italian cuisine. Americans have no concept of antipasto, primo, secondo, contorni etc. Unfortunately, most Americans when dinning at their local “ Italian American” restaurant do not have a distinguishing culinary pallet, and eat whatever “slop” is served to them.
Lastly, when Italians visit the United States, why would they want to eat Italian food? They would be better off availing themselves of the local American cuisine. For instance, in New England there is the famous Boston baked beans, corn bread, Indian pudding, New England clam chowder, and fresh stuffed lobster. Italy is Italy, and America is America, and culinarily speaking, never the twain shall meet.
I’m being mean , but for a guy living in the US for so long , Alessio’s English is really bad! It’s annoying but whatever.
It's important for you to remember that America recognizes no one as citizens, only consumers.
This will help explain 90% of what is allowed to be passed off as "food" in this country.
quite possibly one of the most sarcastic takes on so called "Italian " food as saved in the USA .
You wouldn't say the macaroni are, or the pasta are, so you don't say the spaghetti are. And Shrimp is already plural. Just like Scampi in Italian. And I am not even exaggerating when I say that 7 billion people disagree with you. Pesto on chicken is a perfect match. Maybe not in that cheap restaurant in whatever spot those people were in, but go to NY and see what the Italian Americans do. We made Italian food world famous. Before us it was French, then everyone else.
For those who felt personally "touched" by this video I just want to say that:
1) this video is meant to be funny and entertaining. Don't take it personally.
2) Those who have followed the channel since the beginning know that I, in some ways, consider the REAL Italian-American cuisine (so not the one shown in this video) authentic and good as the Italian one. I explain it in the video that I leave you below.
https://youtu.be/zJO4zIEr3K0?si=Kx1Nz1uGTDIyO1qw
Americans and their "Italian" foods – it's usually embarrassing! I'm Italian-American, and I grew up with a grandmother who maintained very little of her tradition, sadly. Now that I travel to Italy and taste real Italian food…mamma mia! Americans put "Italian" or "Tuscan" on anything and thinks it makes the food Italian. It does not! 🤣
Very interesting video on a very interesting topic, prof. Luca. I would like your opinion, Italian food is pne of the most popular cuisines aroynd the world. Do you think this popularity comes directly from Italy or it is via USA? Some decades before it was difficult to find true and original Italian food in Greece, there ewre the American varieties: carbonara with a lot of creme, american pizzas, Ceasar salad (we thouhrt it was Italian!) etc. Only nowdays one can eat really Italian food evereywhere. Well, I think that Italian-Americans (tv series, films etc) were the first to make Italian food, even the American version of it, well-known all around, but only the last years people can eat real Italian food, with the original reciepes from Italy.
7:31. “Merrynera”……Gli americani poi con qualsiasi salsa di pomodoro se ne escono con “Merrynera”. 😀
9:32 😅😅 I romani dovrebbero prendere esempio da quella “carbonara” e chiedersi cosa loro per tanti anni hanno sbagliato ! 😅 Pazzesco ! 🤦🏻♂️E questi ristoranti li chiamano anche “ristoranti italiani” o si parla di “cibo italiano”. Se fosse stato in qualche ristorante asiatico e ti servono quel piatto con un qualsiasi nome asiatico, potrei forse anche capirlo, anche se ovviamente in quel piatto non c’è proprio nessuna logica con quegli abbinamenti strani. Ma almeno penserei… vabbè… sarà qualche piatto strano asiatico.
The typical Italian picky food eaters. Keep them without food for a week and then we will see ……they are food Fascists
mac & cheese is not italian-american- it’s a southern, usually African-American dish, and a good one is baked, and won’t offend italian tastes. (Black folks are as brutal about bad mac & cheese or bad potato salad as Italians are about Olive Garden) Americans do have good food that won’t offend modern italian sensibilities, but it’s usually described as farm to table, sometimes mixed with french and spanish things.
Professor, I read a couple of years ago that over 60 billion cups of coffee are made each year in Italy with Lavazza? Could this be true?🎉
O la pasta 4 formaggi….o il risotto 4 formaggi. Mi piace anche di più.
Ciao Luca. I was laughing out loud at your disgust at some of the dishes you saw. When you go to Olive Garden (a chain restaurant with many locations), they offer you unlimited salad and bread sticks. The bread sticks look more like hot dog buns than Italian bread sticks, but I think the tomato sauce in the bowl is intended to be an appetizer that mimics fare la scarpetta (if that makes sense). In other words, dip our free bread into some tomato sauce that we'll provide for you with no pasta. It's listed on the appetizer menu as "Dipping Sauces." In the U.S., we like to dip things (bread, chicken wings, chicken tenders) in sauces and dressings. Also, the reason why the American spouses (Jessi and Sarah) take their Italian husbands (Alessio and Carlo) to these restaurants is because they know that their reaction to some of the things on the menu will be funny. I have watched many of their videos and your reaction was similar to theirs. Out of respect for their wives, they try everything, but you can see the bewilderment and disgust on their faces at what is served, and their wives find their reactions hilarious as well. Most Americans don't know how different Italian-American food is to what is eaten in Italy. I have even heard that some restaurants in Italy will put Fettuccine Alfredo on the menu simply because it is requested so often by their American guests. As I understand it, most Italians have never even heard of it, unless they happen to know about the Roman restaurant, Alfredo alla Scrofa. I have had American Fettuccine Alfredo many times because it's on the menu of nearly every Italian restaurant in the U.S., but I am interested in trying the original version in Rome which I know is very different. In America, Alfredo sauce is always made with heavy cream. It is good, but it's very heavy on the stomach. You should do more reaction videos. I don't think I've ever seen you smile this much. Grazie!