Giada De Laurentiis Thinks Most Americans Overlook This Aspect Of Italian Food

In Italy, food is inseparable from place, but the minute an ugly American tourist lands in Rome they're demanding fettuccine Alfredo and chicken parm. So, it's no wonder chef Giada De Laurentiis thinks most Americans totally miss the regional diversity of her home country. In an interview with "Milk Street Radio," she explains, "I think still to this day, a lot of Americans don't realize that Italian food — in many countries this happens but — it's very, very regional, the way they make things." Considering that Olive Garden's popularity keeps on growing, she's right. Many Americans flatten Italian food into a narrow set of expectations concerning meatballs and breadsticks. 

It's also fair to say many of us don't know how dramatically a signature dish can change from one part of Italy to another. De Laurentiis offered this classic Italian meal as an example: "So, lasagna in the South is completely different than a lasagna in the North ... It's just different traditions based on hundreds of years of people coming in and putting their sort of touch on them." De Laurentiis also stressed that Italy's regional differences aren't just about ingredients, they're about the physical geography, stating, "So why does the South use more olive oil and the North use butter? Because the North has more cows, the South doesn't have a lot of cows. They have olive trees and olive groves." Keep this in mind if your restaurant menu has dishes from multiple regions — it's a sign that you're at a bad Italian restaurant.

The "Bel Paese" has 20 distinct food regions to explore. You've got your Northern regions like Piedmont and Lombardy which are obviously colder climates and close to cheese-loving countries like France and Switzerland. Because of that, their food relies heavily on butter, cream, rice, and rich meats. Central Italy, which includes Rome, has more of a Mediterranean influence with olive oil, pastas, and fresh vegetables. The islands of Sicily and Sardinia are unique because of how their culture is mingled with Arab, Spanish, and Greek flavors. In fact, there's so many different regional Italian dishes one needs to try that we had to ask Italian chefs to narrow down their favorites.

De Laurentiis wasn't trying to poopoo on America's dumb palate, but rather broaden how people approach and cook Italian food. By encouraging Americans to think regionally, foodies can appreciate Italian cuisine as a living, evolving tradition rather than a laminated menu at The Old Spaghetti Factory. Italian food isn't simple, either. There's quite a few complicated Italian dishes that aren't worth making at home. Remember that Italy is anything but monolithic in its cuisine; there truly is no single dish to define the entire country. If you're lucky enough to travel there, explore as much of The Boot as you can and make sure you've studied ahead on how to order from an Italian menu.