Butter is more widely used in the North, and is featured in many local risottos, main courses, stuffed pasta dishes, and more. In Central and Southern Italy, on the other hand, people use oil to cook just about anything that needs to be heated.
Italians don't slather their bread with butter, nor dip it in olive oil and balsamic vinegar. They enjoy it with a light drizzle of olive oil or plain. Resist the urge to dip or ask for butter.
of butter is more common than olive oil. The Alpine Regions (Aosta Valley, Piedmont, Nothern Lombardy, South Tirol, Trentino, Friuli-Venezia Giulia.)
There's a great restaurant in Milan where North meets South through a simple gesture: adding butter to your tomato sauce spaghetti – exactly how they did (and still do) in Milan and throughout northern Italy.
Although Italians do eat butter, particularly in the north of the country, olive oil is the undisputed foundation of Italian cuisine.
One of the great traditional divides in Italian cookery has been the use of cooking fats, with the North preferring butter and Central and Southern Italy relying on olive oil. The origin is quite simple: each region's cuisine derives directly from its land.
Italy is divided in 2 big areas food-wise: in the South, center and coast areas olive oil is traditionally the main fat used, while in the North they cook with butter. So, it depends on where the dish you are cooking is from.
In Italy, meat consumption was forbidden during Lent, so people reached for fish and vegetables instead. To prepare these foods, they began using olive oil since it was the only fat not sourced from animals.
The SPAGHETTI rule
Not everyone knows that, when Italians cook spaghetti, they never break them before putting them in the hot water! It is forbidden!
It may seem odd to think of butter as an Italian ingredient but it is very common in the Northern Region. It may be in part due to the French influence, but more than likely it is just because that is what they are able to easily produce.
It is not an Italian custom to use butter inside sandwiches, but a French one. Instead, it is a tradition to find our panini seasoned with different types of extra virgin olive oil, such as spicy oil or herb-flavoured oil, to then be stuffed with other foods.
Although butter was used more than olive oil in Sicily, and it was a primary cooking fat, its production and distribution was nevertheless limited.
Regardless of whether you're having a meal in a restaurant or at a friend's place, always keep in mind that there're some important rules to stick to when eating in Italy: Don't spread butter on your bread because the bread is meant to be used to soak up the leftover sauce from your pasta.
Italy is known for it's very late meals - lunch is about 1.30pm (earliest!) and dinner depends on the season - it can be as late at 11pm! One of the reasons for such late dinners, is so that the members of the family can wait for each other to come back from work and sit down at the table all together.
A typical Italian diet consists of three meals in a day. The most common foods in the Italian diet include pasta, cheese, vegetables, olive oil, meats, and wine. Italians give a lot of importance to fresh ingredients. They use seasonal ingredients to prepare meals.
It is such a culinary sin that some people ask if it is illegal to cut pasta. The answer is no but it isn't good etiquette. In Italy, it is very common to use the spoon to taste a lot of dishes (e.g. pretty much anything that is creamy or a contains a lot of sauce).
However, many Italians take food matters very seriously, and they can also get very, very upset if they see you break the pasta. It's a sort of insult or a sacrilege even.
Italians believe we are to cook and eat pasta while retaining the shape in which it was created. This means not breaking the uncooked pasta before putting it in the pot and not cutting up a plate of cooked pasta with a knife. While this is not illegal, it is certainly in bad taste.
MILAN (AP) — Putting olive oil in coffee is hardly a tradition in Italy, but that didn't stop Starbucks interim CEO Howard Schultz from launching a series of beverages that do just that in Milan, the city that inspired his coffee house empire.
It's an Italian food rule that you don't dip bread in olive oil (swirl of balsamic vinegar optional). If you ever go to Italy, you'll notice they don't put olive oil at the table when they serve you bread, typically before the appetizer comes out but also sometimes with your main meal.
Italians cook pretty much everything with olive oil. We use it to cook, to fry, and to make cakes; we even make ice cream from it (have you tried it? It's amazing!). And one gourmet chef even invented crème brulée with olive oil on the side; it's a fancy mix.
It sounds unconventional to use milk in a meaty red sauce, but upon further investigation, it makes total sense why Italians swear by it. According to our Food Director Amira, not only does milk add a rich flavour to the bolognese, but it also helps cut through the acidity of the tomatoes and red wine.
Italians would never add milk mixed with spices to pasta. The cheeses used as a pasta topping or as an ingredient are usually Parmigiano, pecorino sheep cheese or Gorgonzola. There's no cheddar in Italy. And no macaroni either.
Italian Pasta Rule #1:
This is especially true for pasta with seafood. With dishes like tagliatelle alla bolognese or carbonara, though, an added sprinkling of extra cheese is customary. As a rule of thumb, only add grated cheese to your pasta dish if the waiter offers you a spoonful.