A typical Italian lunch consists of a primo (pasta, soup or risotto dish), a secondo (meat or fish-based dish) and a contorno (side dish). Italians love their carbs and enjoy adding freshly grated Parmesan cheese to their dishes. Italians also exhibit a truly incredible talent for reinventing leftovers.
One of the most popular Italian dishes across the globe is the Risotto. While some argue that bread is preferred by Italians over any other form of carbs but a creamy risotto is what wins heart in the country!
Pasta, risotto, soup, polenta, and casserole—the “pastabilities” are endless when choosing what primo piatto you want to indulge in. By the time primi rolls around, you're absolutely famished. As you can tell, this course is definitely heavier than the first two but will be a little lighter than the Secondi Piatti.
Pasta, bread, fish, meat and vegetables are among the major foods consumed in Italy during meals. Whether it's a lunch or a dinner, it doesn't matter. Because at the table you will find all this and more.
Occasionally, Italians partake in the long, full course lunches. These meals last at least two hours and involve lots of food, more than most people are used to consuming. Italians will do these to celebrate special occasions, but many families do large lunches every Sunday as well.
Pizza is a dinner tradition as all that dough and cheese is considered by Italians as hard to digest. The other reason is that an electric oven or a wood-fired pizza oven has to get hot enough to properly cook a pizza.
The Italian diet consists of breakfast (colazione), lunch (pranzo), and dinner (cena). In addition, Italians also have a snack (merenda) in the mid-afternoon. Italians consider food an essential part of their lives. They use mealtime to bond with friends and family.
Mid-afternoon snack (Merenda)
It is usually a light meal, consisting of a panino or tramezzino, fruit alone, or bread and jam, if not some typical dessert and, in summer, possibly ice cream.
Breakfast in Italy: what to expect
Homemade breakfast in Italy is usually a straightforward affair. Traditional breakfast drinks in Italian households are coffee, tea and cocoa milk for the kids and the main breakfast foods are bread with butter and jam, biscuits and cereals.
The Typical Italian Lunch
In Italy, lunch or il pranzo, is usually served and eaten from 12:30 to 2:30pm. Although, most Italians will eat their midday meal promptly at 1:00pm everyday. If not in a rush, Italians sit down and enjoy their lunch for at least an hour, either at home or in a restaurant or bar.
Primi: Primi, or “first dishes,” usually include pasta, risotto (creamy rice) or soup. Pasta, of course, comes in an especially endless variety of shapes, sizes, textures, and sauces.
Italians have very clear in mind that there are three main meals throughout the day.
1. Pizza. Though a slab of flat bread served with oil and spices was around long before the unification Italy, there's perhaps no dish that is as common or as representative of the country as the humble pizza.
Mealtimes can vary slightly, but Italians typically eat lunch between 1 and 2:30 p.m. and dinner between 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. Many restaurants will open for lunch around 12:30 or 1 p.m. and close the kitchen from 2:30 or 3 p.m. until 7 or 7:30 p.m. Restaurants that serve dinner before 7 p.m. are catering to tourists.
11:00pm – Midnight.
La merenda is the typical mid-afternoon snack that most Italians tend to associate with coming home from school as a child—that moment of the day, somewhere around 4 or 5 o'clock, when little tummies are groaning and need a small something to help make it to dinnertime, still a few hours away.
In Italy siesta is known as riposo. Shops are closed midday for three hours or so, that way Italians get to go home, rest, and be with family. Riposo to Italians means enjoying a home cooked meal and spending time with family.
most popular is a classic breakfast combination, and many Italians also enjoy a slice of pizza or focaccia as a morning meal. Some may opt for a small cup of caffè latte instead of the traditional cappuccino.
Egg McMuffin get in my belly! Mcdonald's in Italy announced that they are now serving breakfast (pancakes, bagels, egg mcmuffins oh my!) from 5:30 to 11:00am.
Why do Italians eat so late? The simple answer is that it is consistent with the traditional culture of avoiding the heat of the day. Also, since the workday is divided in half by a long pausa, people don't finish work until around 7:30 or 8:00.