I've been thinking about this lately and how many people who have been to italy and then return to the USA to say how "far from original" italain food is throughout the USA. Hey, I'm guilty of this too having lived in both countries. However, I've also had the opportunity to travel to Japan, China, Korea, Ireland, etc. ...and to be honest, now that I think of it, while a lot of italian food in America is not close to "la cucina italiana", those who seek out better restaurants and italian stores are able to get some pretty good food. To be brutally honest, America's version of Chinese and Japanese food, for the most part, is a lot further from those cusines that italian food is in America.

Further, have any of you experienced American food in Italy ? or in Asia....Now we are talking about BAD!! but I'm sure those people who eat it think it's the real deal.

Anyway, I just wanted to vent a bit. (volevo solo sfogarmi un po').

Any thoughts ?

Hi
I wrote several pieces about Italian food in the US - Here is the intro
Italian Food | Italy
While I agree that you can find something very close to Italian food in big cities like NY or Washington DC this is not the rule - It is the exception and it is expensive - What I most resent is that Italian ( Mediterranean diet ) is full of Vegetable / fruits etc - pretty light I would say - Italian food in the US is instead very heavy and unless you go to a true Italian restaurant forget about vegetables ....
Anyway I am traveling this days - I would like to answer mre deeply but I am short in time

Hi Paolo:

Good point. I was trying to point out all cusines based on American standards as well as how other countries interpret American Cusine. I'll say this, I'm willing to bet that Good Italian cusine in America is alot closer to the real thing than say Mexican food in America, or Asian Food in America.

How many of you had had Americana food in China or Spain or Korea...and how close is that to American food here ?

Just my .02

Very interesting and important topic to discuss.

Demand determins supply - one of the basic economic laws. The food in the US is being catered to the tastes/preferences of the local customers... Americans sadly don't eat many vegetables and fruits. Hense these ingridients are excluded from the mediteranian receipts.

The "changes" to the receipts apply to all cousines not just to Italian (again sadly). Russian food here in the US IS NOT COMPARABLE to real Russian food. But how many Americans eat beats? and radish? liver? kidny? etc... the list goes on. Not many. So all of the above is excluded along with vegetables and fruits (also common in Russian diate).

I too traveled and lived in Asia (Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, Thailand) and India. Well, the food is different here than there. In addition to excluding vegetables and fruits (yet again and again sadly :-( dishes miss lots of spices...

Well, it's hard to replicate authenticity. Foreign cuisine is often adapted to cater to local tastes, culture and diet, so Italian food in Italy suits Italian tastes, but Italian food in America is catered to American tastes. Chinese food is not the same whether you're in China, Singapore, Australia or England. Not to mention the difficulty of finding the exact ingredients.

I've had similar experiences - I went to a Chinese restaurant in Rotterdam and ordered a certain dish, then lamented to my friend that it was just not the same and not as good. But I guess so long as we aren't terribly demanding, we can learn to appreciate differences and the variety we find in today's cuisines.

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avatar by kelli

Seems to me that the market in the USA and, to an increasing extent in the UK, caters for people who just can't be bothered to spend time in preparing fresh food and then cooking it.

I mean, I know retired people in the USA who make a habit of actually going out for breakfast and then coming back home.... or 'sending out' for breakfast even. Come on - how healthy is the food they're getting served? It's probably all pre-prepared and frozen and so full of E no's and heaven knows what else! Mention taking time to prepare a meal and they're off - that's just too much like hard work.

OK - I accept that if both work full time then 'maybe' an occasional pre-prepared meal is going to be a good idea, but in the long run what will pay off - health wise - is going to be spending time buying and prepring good fresh food with plenty of vegetables and fruit!

Trouble is - too many people just can't be bothered - they'll put up with any old salt and food preservative laden rubbish the manufacturers want them to buy! Just as long as they don't need to do more than heat it up and serve it.

And if that ain't a recipe for disaster then I don't know what is!