Where does Italian food originate from? That may sound like a ridiculous question (“Italy, obviously,” you’re probably saying). However, many people are surprised to learn that many foods and ingredients we think of as typically “Italian” aren’t actually from Italy at all!
If you’re a fan of Italian food, come see the menu at our Leavenworth winery. In Lawrence, you can stop by our Vineyard and pair your wine with some delicious Italian fare!
What Italian Food is Not Italian?
So let’s get down to it. If you rattle off a list of things that you know are Italian, chances are you are wrong. Not just a little wrong, but super wrong.
Okay, so let’s do this. It’s time for a round of, “Everything you ever wanted to know about Italian food (but were afraid to ask).”
Tomatoes
Tomato sauce. Caprese salad. What’s more Italian than a nice, juicy, red, plump tomato?
Except it isn’t.
Tomatoes are from the New World, through and through. Tomatoes trace their origins to the Aztecs in the 8th century BCE. Europeans weren’t introduced to them until the 1500s by explorers.
Tomatoes caught on quickly in southern Europe, but encountered resistance in the north of the continent. The British, for example, thought it was poisonous.
Their loss!
Pasta
You’ve heard this one before, right? Noodles, the Italian pantry staple, are not originally from Italy. The Caesars were not lounging around in their palaces eating spaghetti bolognese.
No one’s sure exactly how it all started. One of the popular theories–that Marco Polo brought noodles back to Italy from China–is likely untrue. There are historical records of people eating pasta in Sicily before Marco Polo’s voyage.
It would appear that this is because of the 9th Century Arab conquest of Sicily, long before Marco Polo’s time.
What is real, authentic Italian food?
Okay, so what’s really Italian? What do average people eat in Italy today that would have been recognizable to their ancestors in ancient Rome or Pompeii?
You’ve likely heard of the Mediterranean Diet. It’s not tons of pizza and lasagna. The legendary benefits of this diet–heart health and longevity–don’t come from eating like a sewer-dwelling turtle mutant or a sardonic comic book cat.
The diet varies in the specifics, and we aren’t nutritionists, but it typically has some of the following features:
- Plant-based Lots of fruits, nuts, and vegetables, herbs, spices, legumes, and olive oil
- Light on red meat For protein, the emphasis is less on red meat but on seafood, poultry, cheese, eggs, and yogurt
- Whole grains Staples include breads, risotto, and polenta
The Mediterranean Diet steers clear of added sugars, refined oils, and processed foods. Instead, it features things that would be familiar to their ancestors.
Pizza
This one started out as street food for busy laborers on the go. These flatbreads were easy to eat standing up, an entire meal on the go.
While it had been around for a while by the 20th century, it gained in popularity in the US when service members returned home after World War II.
What Italian food was invented in America?
Pepperoni
In Italy, this means you’re talking about actual peppers. There, you’ll have to specify that you want something like prosciutto crudo.
Calling spicy salami “pepperoni” is a purely American invention.
Veal and Chicken Parmesan
The same deal with that Italian restaurant menu staple, chicken (or veal) parm. It’s technically Italian in origin–there’s a dish from southern Italy called melanzane alla parmigiana–but with an American twist.
In Italy, the meat course and the pasta course are usually kept separate. Melanzane alla parmigiana is simply eggplant parmesan. Americans took the concept and swapped out the fried eggplant for chicken or veal.
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Spaghetti and meatballs are as American as apple pie.
It’s true! They’re from New York City, in fact. Specifically, Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
Italian immigrants found it harder to get those classic Mediterranean Diet staples. However, their neighbors, the Germans, had tons of beef.
Whereas before they immigrated, red meat was rare and therefore expensive, now they could just walk down the street and buy it almost in bulk! So while back home they’d eaten spaghetti, they ate tomato sauce, and they occasionally enjoyed meatballs as a treat, now those things were cheaper and easier to get than ever before.
So they combined them together and thus was born an American classic.
Enjoy a Taste of Italy at Z&M!
Although we’re a proud veteran-owned business, we’re also proud of our Italian heritage. Z&M co-founder Gina Montalbano is the daughter of Sicilian immigrants, and she brings her family’s culinary and winemaking heritage to everything we do.
Whether you’re ordering an antipasto to share or joining us for an impromptu tasting of Harvest Moon, our original white wine made from Gina’s family recipe, you’ll be able to enjoy an authentic taste of Italy with us.
Mangia (eat), drink, and be merry with us at our winery in Leavenworth or our Lawrence vineyard!