When you think of your favorite Italian foods, you probably imagine the familiar flavors of marinara sauce, garlic bread, pepperoni pizza, and salads drizzled with Italian dressing. While these are typical American favorites of Italian cuisine, you may be surprised to learn that none of them are authentic Italian cuisine. In fact, many of your favorite Italian dishes are actually Italian-American dishes. To get a deeper understanding of how Italian food in America might differ from traditional Italian food, keep reading as we dive deeper into some of the main differences between Italian-American food and traditional Italian food.

A brief history of Italian cuisine
You might think that Italian-American cuisine should be at least a decent representation of typical Italian cuisine, right? Actually, not so much. Most Italian-American dishes are actually based on traditional Italian foods that were prepared for religious holidays, most of them originating from the Naples region of Italy. While many of the dishes we have come to enjoy as “classic Italian” favorites in America are rich in pasta, meat, and cheese, authentic Italian food originally consisted mostly of beans, greens, vegetable soups, and bread. Being expensive, they actually rarely ate meat or pasta.

As Italian immigrants began to settle in the United States, they became a bit more affluent, allowing them to afford additional ingredients such as pasta and meat. However, many traditional Italian ingredients were not available in the United States or were of lower quality, so immigrants eventually began to adapt these recipes. This eventually led to the evolution of many of the dishes that Americans commonly refer to as Italian food as we know it today.

Defining differences
Once Italian-American cuisine became established as a genuine cuisine in the United States, the differences between it and authentic Italian cuisine became clearer. Italian-American cooking tends to use much more garlic, sauce, cheese, and meat, while vegetables have become less prominent in dishes. Pasta also tends to be the star of the show in these recipes, and is even baked in some dishes, such as baked ziti.

Real Italian food, however, is less robust and uses more fresh ingredients. Pasta, which is a staple of Italian-American cuisine, is rarely the main star of authentic Italian food. In Italy, pasta is usually served as the first course after an antipasto or appetizer-type dish that precedes everything else. In addition, many other regional or traditional dishes can be found throughout Italy that never made it to the United States. However, with more and more chefs traveling to sample international cuisine, authentic Italian cuisine is slowly but surely making its way to the United States through Fine Italian Cuisine.