Learn words connected with food in Italian
One thing the Italians are good at is cibo (food). Ask any Italian where you can find the best food in the world and they will get a smug expression on their faces and answer without hesitation.
Visitors to Italy will surely agree with this, and one of the best aspects of a trip to Italy is hunting out quaint restaurants and trying the local specialities. Just be careful not to ingrassare (put on weight)!
One misconception you might have about la cucina italiana (Italian food) concerns the variety. Unless you are staying in a large city, you will probably discover that food is very regional with just three or four popular piatti (dishes) to be found on the menu.
Ricette (recipes) also tend to be much simpler than we imagine, consisting of a few ingredienti freschi (fresh ingredients) and cucinato (cooked) without too much elaboration.
The italians have a lot of ingrained beliefs about il mangiare sano (eating heathily). La colazione (breakfast) is usually un caffe e brioche (coffee and croissant) in a bar or latte e biscotti (milk and biscuits) at home. Lunch can be either un panino (sandwich) or, if eating at home, la pasta. Carboidrati (carbs) are not usually eaten in the evening unless you want to mangiare fuori (eat out), and dinner usually consists of la carne o il pesce (meat or fish) and la verdura (vegetables).
Nutrition is often talked about on TV, with even a daily spot on the news showing whats di stagione (in season) and come cucinarlo (how to cook it). Sunday has programmes brought to viewers from hilltop villages celebrating their sagra (food-based village party).
Italians are very traditional when it comes to food, probably due to the fact that as soon as babies can eat solids they sit a tavola (at the table) with and eat exactly the same food as their parents. So don’t expect to find children’s menus in Italy!
