Comments on: Brand Italy – What is Italian Food?

By: Starting a Restaurant

Starting a Restaurant — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 16:39:46 +0000

Very nice article! I love Italian food, but the difference between authentic Italian food and imitation varieties is often very obvious. I liked your list of Clues that the restaurant is not authentically Italian. Very funny!

By: Joe

Joe — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 18:26:00 +0000

mpbailey… did she grow up in Rome? It’s crazy how names of foods change from region to region. We cook foods that are called by another name a few towns over. It’s the beauty of Italian dialects. Thanks for reading.

By: mpbailey

mpbailey — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 18:07:02 +0000

According to my daughter (actually born there–and lived until she was 9) It’s not a “real” italian restaurant if they don’t know what a “suppli” is. That is the measure we still use. If you can’t order suppli–it’s not real italian.

By: Cherrye at My Bella Vita

Cherrye at My Bella Vita — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:32:10 +0000

I just read this post in my Google reader. It is so funny. But I am wondering, Joe … how do you really feel?

By: Jewel

Jewel — Fri, 22 May 2009 12:53:27 +0000

Oh we even get those stupid ads in Australia. They irritate me. As if a restaurant owner would agree to serve junk food from another ‘restaurant’ therefore proving that their food is of equal quality to Pizza Huts as they are happy for their customers to be mistaken. Either those people are actors or are just being polite in front of a camera.

I’m still planning my trip to Italy and I am hoping that a nation renowned for it’s passion for food serves up better than Pizza Hut.

By: Chuck Aflitto

Chuck Aflitto — Wed, 20 May 2009 12:29:38 +0000

Nice job Joe!! We as Americans continue to distort the Italian food as we know it. To big, to much, seems to be what is portrayed as good Italian food, not good. Also , the way they display and explain the culture of the Italian people is so misleading.
Yes Joe you have opened a can of worms on this one!!
Thanks and take care

By: Paul

Paul — Wed, 20 May 2009 04:08:54 +0000

Joe,

Oh boy, I couldn’t have said it any better. Those commercials have bothered me ever since they began and I get angry every time they’re on. Aside from the fact that I wouldn’t return to Pizza Hut unless my life depended on it, any fast food or “Restaurant” that offers food with any one of your five clues, is on my list of failures. Olive Garden comes to mind. Even some “Italian Restaurants” have given up on quality for the sake of fast, easy, cheaper and longer shelf life. When I eat a ravioli or tomato sauce that tastes like Chef Boyardee, I get a little suspicious.

And for all of us real Italians or Italian Americans, no matter how often we’ve watched and listened to Mom or Nonna make that sauce or meatball, it never tastes quite the same as when it’s done with their own hands, and that special brand of love.

Thanks Joe for saying so well what’s been on my mind for so long.

Paul Valvo

By: paper canuck

paper canuck — Mon, 18 May 2009 23:12:34 +0000

This assinine commercial aggravates me no end. I could tell you what my husband thinks of the farce but my mother told me to NEVER use that kind of language…. Oh, did I mention that my DH is Italian?
Tis’ indeed a sad state of affairs when people mistakenly think Pizza Hut knows anything about Italian cooking. I pride myself in transmitting my M in L’s recipes to my children: I am fortunate enough to have learned how to make her wonderful lasagna. It takes hours to make from scratch: ragu, bechamel, pasta, assembly, etc… It is true that people have eaten so much cr*p in so called restaurants that they are firmly convinced this is the way such things should taste. sob.

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:32:41 +0000

Don, you have an intelligent boy on your hands!

Right on Rose!

Sally, it probably tastes good… my point is it isn’t Italian. Your right, no one likes to be tricked or spied on.

Christie, again that’s fine… their clientele, their target consumers would probably enjoy that more. I agree (I said, a room full of Italians though) A room full of Italians would probably be unanimous. I’m in marketing as well.. probably slightly different discipline as you but as you know an authentic story when creating a brand wins… there is no authentic story here. There’s nothing wrong with having American Style Pasta or Pizza, what irks me is when they try to spin it as Italian in order to create credibility. I may make a mean sushi roll but I’m not going to put peanut butter on it and claim it’s authentic Japanese cuisine, then take it to Japan and fool a group of people into thinking a Japanese chef made it.

I agree Michele. I wouldn’t go there either but I’m sure they do have good products for a good value… not my cup of tea but again, my problem is only that they tie it so strongly to Italian food and how much Italians love it.

Food Hunter… you are unfortunately right and “most people” is what makes them so successful.

By: Food Hunter

Food Hunter — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:40:59 +0000

My feelings exactly. I hate those Pizza Hut commercials and the ones for Olive Garden. I do have to agree with Christie though…most people just don’t know what good Italian is. I work with a girl who eats pasta out of a can and turns her nose up to fresh lasagna. Now that’s sad.