You’ve all eaten in Italian restaurants.  You’ve all eaten in American restaurants.  You’ve all eaten in American homes.  How are all of these different from eating in an Italian home?

The first thing is dinner is much later in the typical Italian home than the typical American home.  This holds true in restaurants when you are traveling in Italy as well.  Most of them don’t open until about 7pm and anyone eating before 8:30 is probably a tourist. In a vast majority of homes in Italy the kitchen is large and everyone eats in the kitchen.  So it’s 9pm and you sit down to dinner.

Rules for table setting are pretty universal in western culture, and most of them probably originated in Italy because the Italians pioneered the use of cutlery in normal homes long before it became common elsewhere.  One thing that is virtually mandatory in Italian homes that is not in American homes is the use of a tablecloth.  Even if everything on the table is from Ikea or a hand me down there will be a tablecloth laid.  There will also be a large empty space in the center of the table, with the only things needed are salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar.  If during the day the table has plants or a bowl of fruit on it, for dinner they are taken away and the cloth is laid.

Dinner is slow and multi coursed.  And you will most likely have either two or three plates at your seat awaiting all the yummy goodness that is to come.  Now the open space will make sense, as will the ubiquitous tablecloth.  Food is a friendly affair here.  And most people serve it up family style.  Everyone is invited to help themselves.  And help themselves again.  And again.  The Italian mamma saying, “mangia, mangia” is no myth, and you will be fed and wined and welcomed until you’ll never want to leave.  Then perhaps you’ll adopt the habit in your own home and spread the spirit of Italian hospitality with a dash of American cuisine.