Italians like to make way too much food. Have you ever been to an Italian wedding or baptism or holiday dinner or any Italian occasion where food is served… and left hungry? My mother always worries that there won’t be enough food…
Me: What did you make?
Mom: I made some soup, a few pounds of pasta, meatballs and sausage, a roast with some potatoes, broccoli rabe, a salad, a little fish, and then I fried up some peppers… oh and your father sliced some soppressata, cappacolo and a few olives.
Me: You forgot to mention the basket of fruit, nuts, panetone, castagne and the pastries we’re going to have with coffee. When’s the 2nd battalion coming over?
By the time we’re all completely full, another family could come over completely famished and there would still be left overs! Non-Italian families might think pasta is a main course… we’re just getting started. Buon appetito!
Italians like to make too much food.
I can soo identify with this. It’s how it was growing up, but I do try to restrain myself now. In Italy, it’s just as bad (if not worse) with the relatives there.
This sounds like dinner at our house…especially at the holidays. No one just stops by without being offered tons of food.
Always enough food to feed an army…and yet, nonnie would say, “I don’t think there’s enough!”…a VERY hard habit to break!! I’m never completley happy unless I have fed someone who has stopped by for a visit, especially my kids!!
When non-Italians come over, they ask if an army regiment is coming by.
I’ve inherited the “make a ton of food” gene. Not only does nobody leave hungry – they often leave with food!
Guily as charged! I tell my kids to bring containers!
Oh yes! Also guilty and make no apologies
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Hi Joe, This is in our blood!! My mother could feed the local fire dept at times! Just the left overs
How true! And yet, there are very few overweight Italians – where do they put it all?
Ha! Joe thanks for reminding me that I need to get on the post about what we ate at my inlaws this past weekend. Mama stuffed us silly with food! The nice thing about all this though is that growing up in Hawaii, it was always the same in our family. More food than you can shake a wooden spoon at!
For Italians, food will always equal love. It has always been and always will be! We have the hospitality gene and feel it would be the biggest offense if anyone left our homes without being well fed and part of the family.
“bring on the second turkey!” LOL
Made me laugh…I keep trying to tell my family to cook less!
i’m definitely italian. even when i cook for just me and my husband, i overcook. i never think i have enough food for just us! but you know what, italians know how to use up leftovers really well too!
I had to chuckle…reminds me of my family! We love our food!!
It was always such fun when my cousin would bring college buddies over for Thanksgiving dinner. They would gorge on pasta – ignoring our warnings. Then out came the turkey dinner. Followed by desserts and fruits. Followed by leftovers. Their eyes would just glaze over.
What is it about us Italians- we are all the same…this sounds like our house!
After preparing all this food we still have those thoughts that past our mind….did I make enough? Whats missing?….
This is so true! I find myself buying and cooking too much food all the time, even though there is just my husband and I at home. It is a hard habit to break!
I smiled as I read the post and comments. When I was a girl, and we would go and visit my grandparents(less than two hours away), awaiting us when we walked in the door was always ravioli or lasagne, chicken or ham, fresh yeast rolls, salads, wine and always some sweet treat. What was amazing, was that this was just the “appetizer” to sustain us from our “long” travel. Usually within three hours of arrival, my grandparents would always take my entire family out to eat at a restaurant!! To this day, I cannot seem to separate food and celebration…and, I, too, always cook “too much” food!
I can only add my ‘voce’ to all those who stopped in here before… too much is never enough. And ‘outsiders’ never seem to understand… Mom always felt it was better to spend a couple of dollars on an extra pound of macaroni rather than have someone go hungry.
I’m not Italian (old New England Yankee stock, meat and potatoes, you know). But I grew up in the western sections of Boston, which had a lot of different ethnic groups. So I had tons of friends, whose parents or grandparents were from other countries, particularly Italians.
I have such fond memories of their families’ warmth and generosity. I learned at a young age to pace myself at Italian meals. I could see their mothers looked hurt if I didn’t have seconds. The food was so good, it wasn’t hard to find a place to put it all. Pacing is key.
Even in my teens, when I’d done hardly any cooking at home, an Italian friend’s mother taught me some simple and delicious recipes I make to this day. She also pierced my ears for me, with my parents’ consent of course.
Most importantly, I learned from them that food is love and I love cooking lots of different dishes for my family and friends.
Love your site. And right, I agree, white wine is a dish. So’s red.
LOL leftovers for centuries….indeed.
so funny to read all these comments and
have the same thing happen all over.thats why
we can walk into almost any italian home and
feel totally at home within minutes.i wouldnt trade our italian-american traditions for any money in the world!
I think this is a Mediterranean trait not just Italian… I am Lebanese and if you saw how much food mom made for Christmas!!! So yeah I know the feeling.
On the other hand, Italian food is THIS good. Pasta is my weak point I love to cook and eat it. So much flavors can be used with one base, lots of possibilities.
Not to mention the flavors enhance overnight. Not bad leftovers. Glad I stumbled on your blog.