After the post with the first 3 fake Italian recipes, here we go with the last 3 dishes that are considered Italian but they are not or that are called with an Italian-sounding name...that has no meaning in Italian. ;)
Pizza Pepperoni
In this case instead of messing up with the pizza, like with Pizza Hawaii, they did it with the Italian language.This pizza is usually a regular margherita with spicy salami on top and we also have this type of pizza in Italy but it’s called “diavola” (devil) because of the spiciness of the salami. The word “pepperoni” instead doesn’t exist: “peperoni” (with just 1 p) means red bell peppers or capsicum while with 2 Ps doesn’t mean anything. I once met a girl from Chile who ordered "pizza ai peperoni" here in Italy expecting to get spicy salami...but what she got was her most hated vegetables: red bell peppers all over the pizza. So if you plan to eat a pizza in Italy and you really want a “pizza pepperoni” make sure you order the right one ;)
5 Meatball Spaghetti
This dish is very very (have I said very?) rare here in Italy and the majority of us know it thanks to the Disney movie “The Lady and the Tramp”. Despite the fact that some regional recipes include pasta served with meatballs ragù (that is to say every sauce including meat, like Bolognese sauce), they are very isolated and niche cases and they are hard to find in restaurants or at Italians’ places. We eat spaghetti with ragù and we eat meatballs (we call them polpette), but never together: the first is a first course (primo, like pasta, lasagne,rice) and the latter is a main course (secondo, like meat and fish). As it always happens though, meatball spaghetti are a very popular dish overseas and are considered an authentic Italian dish. Its origin goes back to when Italian immigrants went to USA at the beginning of the XX century and spaghetti with tomato sauce was the cheapest dish to cook. Once the lifestyle started improving, people added meat in the shape of meatballs in the recipe. So if you ask meatball spaghetti in Italy don’t be surprised if they’ll ask you “Ok so spaghetti first and after that, meatballs as a secondo?”
6 Caesar Salad
This is probably the only dish that was invented and made popular by an Italian in US, where they considered it being authentic Italian food, that was then introduced also in Italy. Cesare (Caesar in English) Cardini, a restaurant owner who emigrated to San Diego in California, was the one who invented this salad made of lettuce, croutons, boiled eggs, Worchester sauce, lemon, garlic and Parmesan cheese. After a shortage of supplies that prevented him from serving his clients his regular dishes during the 4th July celebrations in 1924, Cesare invented this recipe that was obviously named after him. Although you can find this salad in Italy too, we never prepare it at home and it is considered more of an American dish.
That's all for now! If you want to know whether some dishes that are considered Italian really are Italian, comment below! Otherwise, if you've missed the other 3 Italian dishes that no one eats in Italy, check them out here! :)
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