Image of Italian Culture in Food Essay Example

great significance in the rest of the world.

Italians are very much attached to their wine and food heritage. The trends of the traditional cuisine of the Italian food, either that is cooked at home or even enjoyed at a Saga or a fair the Italians are well attached to their diet and wine. For several years, the trend of the foreign cuisine became popular in Italy mostly among the young professionals. The Italians are well known for the pasta, pizza and also tomato sauce which is the national diet of the Italian tradition that differs the region considerably. It is easy to distinguish the blending and cooking practices mostly among the different parts that helps to identify all the cooking styles of the Italians in particular through the use of cooking fat; Butter was primarily utilized in the north and pork fat in the center of the country. On the other hand, olive oil was employed in the South (Franceschi & Negri, 1993).

The main staple dishes in the north were the polenta and rice. The pasta was most famous in the south. In the 80s and 90s, pizza and pasta became more popular especially in the north of Italy. Pasta can best be served with a white cheese sauce and also a tomato based sauce especially in the south. The Italians are also well known for the use of herbs especially in cooking especially basil, oregano, parsley sage and rosemary. Cheese plays a significant role in the Italian Cuisine.

In Italy, several types of cheese are made in Italy with mozzarella, Asia go and parmesan which is the best known in the world. The best-known ingredient

of the Italian is the antipasto that was first made in Parma that is a city that gives its name from the Parmesan cheese. In the southern regions of Italy people embrace hard boiled spaghetti while the people from the north only prefer soft egg noodle. Most of the foods are cooked. For instance, the pasta should be cooked according to some directions made on the package. The serving bowl is warmed in the oven that is set to the lowest temperatures until when it is ready.

Some butter is then placed in a mixing bowl and then a wooden spoon used in beating it until when it is flute and light. Some cream is then added and mixed until well blended. Some cheese equal to a tablespoon is then added. The cooked pasta can then be drained and placed in a warm bowl then added some cheese mixture. One has to ensure that all the pasta is well coated with sauce.

Some salt is then added with pepper. Finally, one can serve the pasta while still hot with a side dish OD some grated cheese (Girardelli, 2004). The recipe goes out well with some green salads with the Italian warm garlic dressing of bread. Most of the foods in the Italian culture are served with hot pepper and onions. The foods can, therefore, be referred to like hot food, for instance, the Italian sausage is served with pepper, the pasta, antipasto and also the Italian meatballs.

It is easy to find the classic red sauce in jars since most Italians love foods served with pepper. Other hot spices used include the Basil pesto sauce and the Alfredo

sauce. Some of the cold foods include spaghetti, pizza, and rice. Other famous cold Italian dishes include the herb roasted pork subs that are well salted with a dried thyme and born less pork that is shoulder cooked. The Braised Chicken is also an example of cold food.

The foods that are considered as a taboo in Italy is food that is misinterpreted from the traditional dishes especially from the La none or from a favorite place in the streets. The widely noted worst non-Italian food is the pizza that is cooked with strange ingredients. Some of the ingratiates chicken or pineapples or even one that is made with processed cheese or even overloaded with some tomato sauce chemicals and some preservatives then later cooked in an electric oven. Another taboo food known is the fake pasta recipe. The Italians often find overcooked pasta or the incoherent mixture of flavor, for instance, the carbonara a taboo. The drinks, especially from the YouTube channel, almost brought some war declared by the Italian government (Leitch, 2003).

The Tank size that is also overloaded with syrups and other sugar products are also referred to as taboo. Finally, it is quite significant that the Italian culinary tradition is somehow simple especially when basing it on the pure flavors of some few fresh ingredients. Any recipe that might use some different kinds of products with some difficult Italian names, for instance, the Napoli sauce or even mixing of some processed low-quality ingredients and put in the shapeless slab can easily be referred to as a taboo in Italy. In a recent research carried out, results indicate that some plants and foods are

used as medicines in Italy.

The research carried out in the northwest Tuscany, the northern part of the Lucca province and also in the central Italy shows that all the parts of Italy have permitted the use of medicinal herbs that can be utilized as vegetable resources by the residents and as food medicine. Some of the most commonly used include the use of the ilium candida bulbs that are used in treating shingles. The Ballot Ingram leaves are also used as trophic protective. The crocus Napolitano's flowers are also used as antiseptics (Counihan ; Van, 2012). Italians also use the Prunes Laurocerasus drupes in treating hypotensive disorders.

The consumption of the chestnut flour polenta that is well cooked with some new wine can be used as the treatment for the chest. Most of the greens gathered in the wilderness are also eaten raw as the salad or even boiled in food mixtures to help in cleansing the blood and in cleansing intestines from harmful agents. The archaic is also used as a particular interest in the treatment of sciatica. Other plants and foods are used as good omens or even against the eye of the evil one. In the tradition of the Italians, it is always expected to have food on the table income religious holidays. In the old days, for instance, not meat was to be eaten during the lent that is the ashes Wednesday up to the time of Easter.

All the meals were to be made out of bread, vegetables, cheese or even fish that was mostly dried or even salted cod. During the carnival, the traditional sweets were made out of slivers of

dough that was fried in oil or powdered sugar. These types of foods are known as frappes (Franceschi ; Negri, 1993). During the Christmas, a cake referred to as a Pandora was made that was always a traditional desert. The New Year included making of main dishes of the dinner that could be made of a big piece cooked sausages called Zamboni. It was used to symbolize an excellent omen for the coming year.

Pork represented a good health while lentils were used to mean that money was going to be found in plenty like coins. In the autumn mushrooms and chestnuts are mostly eaten while the dried fruits like the hazelnuts and the walnuts are consumed in the winter. During the research on the Italian cuisine, I was able to speak with an Italian lady who helped me gather the information about all the Eating habits in Italy. My communication with the woman was mainly affected by gender difference. Our communication was quite difficult since the connection between a male and a female brings some differences at times. The information about the Italian Eating Food Tours was right through communication via the mobile phone.

I was not able to acquire most of the information from the lady since she wanted me to be present at where she was so that we could communicate face to face (Counihan ; Van, 2012). It is always necessary to be close to someone when gathering information for detailed classification. The other barrier to our effective communication was the issue of emotional barriers where the lady found it difficult to express her emotions since her taboos do not allow her to

answer some information that appeared as if disclosing information about her country to a stranger. Some of my topics seemed to be off-limiting.

Language difference made our speech involved. I also used an interpreter at some point since the lady used French mostly in communicating. My expectations and prejudice also lead to some false assumptions and stereotyping. I could hear at times things that I expected to hear instead of listening to exactly what the Italian lady was saying about the culture of foods used In Italy.

I, therefore, jumped into quick, incorrect conclusion in recording my findings. Our cultural differences also resulted to some barriers of effective communication. Our social interaction was significantly affected by differences in our culture since she at times thought that I was somehow stalking her. It was even difficult to express our feelings towards each other. Cultural space made it difficult for effective communication. In my subsequent research I will be aware of all these barriers, and therefore, I will ensure to try and reduce their impact by trying to continue and understand the person I obtain information from through offering proper feedback.

During the study process, I was also substantial feel uncomfortable in conversing with an Italian lady. Sometimes our communication was a bit hard since she was not so familiar with speaking in English rather she could use French, which I am not well conversant with especially in sentence construction. The research was also costly since we used to communicate via the telephone which is more expensive that delivering a questionnaire. Most of the barriers to our communication occurred at unexpected stages in our discussion with the Italian lady. Some

of these obstacles resulted in the messages I communicated to her to disappear forcing me to repeat my question severally. The procedure was so tiring and time-consuming.

The Lady was so confused at times since some of my questions were quite confusing particularly when she did not have an exact answer for the question. It is very necessary to overcome all these issues in research for effective communication. It is also important to choose a respondent who is quite familiar with the area of investigation to avoid obtaining wrong information for research.

References

1. Counihan, C., ; Van Esterik, P. (2012). Food and culture: A reader. Routledge.
2. Franceschi, S., Negri, E., Salvini, S., Decarli, A., Ferraroni, M., Filiberti, R., ... ; La Vecchia, C. (1993).
3. Reproducibility of an Italian food frequency questionnaire for cancer studies: results for specific food items. European Journal of Cancer, 29(16), 2298-2305.
4. Girardelli, D.

   (2004). Commodified identities: the myth of Italian food in the United States. Journal of communication inquiry, 28(4), 307-324.

5. Helstosky, C. (2006).

   Garlic and Oil: Politics and Food in Italy. Berg Publishers.

6. Leitch, A. (2003). Slow food and the politics of pork fat: Italian food and European identity. Ethnos, 68(4), 437-462.