Archive for September, 2011

Healthy Italian Food

Many people love Italian food, and Italian eateries have sprung up across the country. However, if you are looking for healthy Italian food, you may want to think twice about eating. While many people consider Italian food to be healthy, the dishes served at your favorite restaurant may not be.

The Problem

Like fettuccine Alfredo? It has as much saturated fat as three pints of full fat ice cream. Eggplant parmigiana is about as healthy as eating five fried egg rolls and that appetizer of fried calamari? It has more cholesterol than an omelet made with four eggs. Healthy Italian food is hard to find in the U.S. In southern Italy, the diet used to be comprised mostly of pasta, bread, vegetables, and other healthy foods, and that part of the country had fewer cases of heart disease, cancers, and obesity. Meat and cheese are used sparingly in the south. In the north, the use of meat and cheese is more common, as it is in the United States as well, and so are the rates of heart disease and other ailments.

How Pasta Helps

Pasta helps create healthy Italian food because it cuts down on the amount of fat in the meal. If the meal is largely pasta, you will have no problem staying below the 30% of calories coming from fat. Of course this assumes that you are staying away from cream and cheese based sauces like Alfredo, and sticking to tomato sauce. Even most meat sauces are ok to eat. This is also true for saturated fat, again Read the rest of this entry »

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Italian Cuisine – Its Exclusive Regional Variation

Most people’s idea of Italian cuisine is a combination of tortellini, minestrone, spaghetti, and lasagna. If you visit Italy with such an narrow view of Italian cuisine, you will be pleasantly surprised at the variety of food that the Italians eat.

The reason for this variety is simple. Italy has nineteen regions, each with its distinct cuisine. In addition, Italian cuisine changes according to the seasons. Fresh ingredients are of utmost importance in an Italian kitchen. As a result, you will discover that the summer cuisine is different from the winter cuisine.

North Italian Cuisine

Usually, Americans are familiar with the part of Italian cuisine that is typical of north Italy. All the heavy dishes loaded with cheese and rich sauce comes from this reason. You will enjoy a stay in north Italy if you enjoy the Italian food available in America.

Although you will be familiar with north Italian cuisine, you will still be surprised by the wonderful differences in authentic north Italian food and the Italian fare available in America.

South Italian Cuisine

The cuisine of south Italy is different. The people of south Italy use more fish in their diet. This variant of Italian cuisine is named “Mediterranean food.” Read the rest of this entry »

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What Makes Good Italian Food and a Great Italian Restaurant?

What makes good Italian food and a great Italian restaurant? This is what I think.

Italy has a wonderful tradition of fine food. Italian food’s importance to Italian culture cannot be overstated. It is one of the central elements, and why shouldn’t it be? Think about Italy’s geography for a second:

  • It runs a long way from north to south. Therefore, it has a wide array of growing seasons and soil types. This means a rich diversity of ingredients for food.
  • It is a peninsula, meaning it is nearly surrounded by the sea but also connected to the great Eurasian land mass. There is an abundance of fresh seafood and foreign ingredients from neighboring lands.
  • It sits between Europe and Africa in the Mediterranean. All Mediterranean cultures have excellent food traditions from North Africa to Lebanon and Israel, France, Greece, Spain and, of course, Italy.

When you think of noodles and pasta, you probably think of Italy, but those wonderful inventions came to Italy from China thanks to Marco Polo. It tells you a lot about Italian food culture that something so basic became associated with Italy even though it did not originate there. Read the rest of this entry »

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