Italian typical meal
Italian typical meal, Italian foods and recipes that summarize Italian food customs. Italian culture traditions regarding wedding and holiday meals.
Italian culture traditions regarding meals means what is still served in ceremony days, in weddings, and in some Sunday family lunch.
It begins with the aperitif. A soft or light drink with some appetizers signs the beginning. It is usually served outside, if the weather conditions allow it, and people are all around, with a few chairs or seatings.
Then it's time to take a seat at the table. It's antipasto time, an Italian typical meal cannot miss this starter. The word antipasto says it all: anti = before, pasto = meal; even if it's real food that is served. Hors d'oeuvre is the most known term used worldwide. There are a lot of hors d'oeuvre used in Italy. It goes from seafood salad (with octopus, shrimps, mussels, clams, etc) to "land" food, with raw ham, salami, olives, raw sausage and some preserved vegetable as artichokes (carciofi).
There are three plates on the table: the first one, small, is used for the antipasto. The second one, a soup bowl, is used for the first dish - pasta, risotto or soup. The third one is for the second that is meat, fish or both (one after another, not together) with a side dish. The first dish is usually pasta, but there are no rules. I saw a lot of people, including tourists, eating a good minestrone (vegetables soup) in a restaurant. It can be a seafood risotto, or another kind of risotto. There are so many as the ideas that may come to the chef's head.
The second dish is meat or fish. It is important to know that Italian meals in Italy are sold and served separately. Italian foods and recipes may vary when served outside Italy. In most countries, Italian food is served as unique plate.
In Italy you'll never eat an Alfredo tagliatelle made with chicken or mushrooms. Never.
A vegetable soup could be enriched by meat, but ... Italians will never add meat to a minestrone!
So, as people say in Italy, "Places you visit, uses you know" (Paese che vai, usanze che trovi).
So, when you order a grilled filetto, for example, you have to ask for a side dish, if you desire it. It will NOT come with french fries or anything else. It will come alone.
The sides are maybe the less famous between other dishes. Usually it is green salad, french fries, or some grilled vegetables. It depends on the city and the restaurant.
After that you can have fruit and then a dessert. An Italian typical meal cannot miss a tiramisu and panna cotta. Tartufo is also known, but unfortunately there are really a few artesanian ones; the most are industrialized. Tiramisu is very tasty and it's not difficult to find it made by the chef.
After the dessert... coffee. And then, an "amazza caffè" (kill coffee) that is a liquor . You can choose your preferite liquor. Usually people drink grappa or limoncello nowadays; but there are other choices.
By now you should have finished a real Italian typical meal. If you ate it all, probably accompanied with a good wine, you'll probably feel like sleeping for a while... this is probably the reason why the shops in Italy used to close from 1 to 4pm! (don't worry, now a lot of them make a 10am-7pm opening without closing for lunchtime).
