Hawaiian pizza, chicken Parmigiana, Alfredo sauce...I am sure you all know these dishes pretty well and I am also quite sure you think they’re all typical Italian dishes. Sorry to disappoint you, but that’s not true. When you come to Italy you won’t find them in our restaurants and we don’t cook them at home. You may ask yourself “Then why do they have Italian names or look sooo Italian?”.
First of all, they look very Italian....just to non-Italians. We can recognize a fake Italian dish from miles away. But the main point is that they were invented by Italian immigrants (especially those who went to the USA) who tried to replicate what they ate at home with the local ingredients. In many other cases instead, they’re simply created by putting together ingredients that look Italian or manipulating existing Italian dishes (see Pizza with pineapple) and by giving them an Italian-sounding name.
So there you go with a list of the main Fake Made-in-Italy dishes.
Chicken Parmigiana
It is a mix between “Cotoletta alla Milanese” (more known for its Austrian versione, Wiener Schnitzel) and “Melanzane alla Parmigiana” (Eggplant Parmigiana). The chicken breast is breaded, fried and served with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese, it is served together with french fries and it is very popular in USA and Australia. The first time I heard about it I was like “what? Since when is this Italian?”. What really gives shivers to every Italian (so please do not do it if you have Italian guests at dinner) is when the chicken parmigiana is served together with pasta. With pasta. Now you can understand why this dish is not Italian and why we don’t eat it.
Hawaiian pizza
This is the most shocking dish of the list for every Italian. Offer pizza with pineapple to an Italian and his/her face will turn into a masks of surprise and disgust. The guy wh had the idea to make one of our national dishes exotic was a restaurant owner from canada, who mixed pizza and fruit in 1962. It is widely eaten in canada, USA and Australia (it represents 15% of all pizzas sold!) and since there is no limit to the damages that can be done to pizza, pineapple is often matched with ham or bacon. or, in the bravest versions with mushrooms or red bell peppers. RIP Pizza.
Fettuccine Alfredo
“I really feel like eating a dish of pasta with Alfredo sauce”...said no Italian ever. And the reason is simple: this butter & Parmesan cheese-based dish is completely unknown to Italians. Funnily enough though, it was invented in Rome at the beginning of 1900 and in the USA is one of the most popular dishes, automatically associated with Italian cuisine. There are different versions regarding who really invented Alfredo sauce and two restaurants in Rome claim its creation. What is known for sure though is that Alfredo, the owner of a restaurant in the Italian capital created this dish as a remedy against his pregnant wife’s lack of appetite, seasoning the pasta twice with butter, both in the pan and once in the plate, and finishing with abundant grated Parmesan cheese. The recipe ended up in the restaurant’s menu but the popularity came thanks to two famous American actors, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford who gave golden cutlery as a gift to Alfredo and made the dish Fettuccine Alfredo very popular at Hollywood. It then became famous all around America but never in Italy. This explains why if you go to Rome nowadays you won’t find this recipe in any restaurant and the majority of Italians have no idea that this pasta dish even exists. The first time I went to USA and I saw “Alfredo sauce” I asked the lady “What is Alfredo sauce?” and I can still remember her shocked reply “It’s Alfredo sauce!”. She must have thought who can be so stupid to ask such an obvious question?!
That's all for now folks! But stay tuned for the second parte of 6 “Italian” dishes...that no one eats in Italy"! :)
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