Speaking of Meatballs

In my previous post, we learned how to ask for meatballs in Italy. More importantly, we learn how NOT to ask for meatballs in Italy. Now there is something else that I must share with you dear readers, for it is very important to know this if you plan to visit Italy. There is no such thing as spaghetti with meatballs. Yes you heard me right, it does not exist here.

Italians are very particular about which foods can go with which foods. For example, you will never find slices of garlic bread with a plate of lasagna. Why? Because both are carbohydrates and here in Italy, you don't eat carbs with carbs. The same is true about meat and pasta. Pasta is considered to be a first dish while meat is always serviced as a second dish. Please, NEVER try to mix the two. I did it once with disastrous results (I may be exaggerating a bit).

One morning I spent several hours making a dish that included a pine nut cream sauce over a bed of angel hair pasta and topped with grilled chicken and tomatoes. I had gotten the recipe from an authentic Italian cookbook (so it said) and spent the morning chopping, dicing, grilling, mixing and cooking. In the end, I had a fantastic lunch waiting for my husband when returned from work and, in my opinion, it was heavenly.

My husband looked at his plate and flatly said, "Why is the chicken on the top of the pasta?". And that is how I learned that Italians do not mix the two. I, the red-blooded American, cut my chicken into tiny bites and mixed it into the pasta. The Italian removed his chicken from his plate, ate the pasta first and then moved onto his "second dish". The only time you will find meat with pasta is if the pasta is covered with ragu bolognese sauce or if the meat is actually INSIDE the pasta (though in Romagna our pasta is always filled with cheese).

So my friends, what have we learned today? That there are some gastronomic myths about Italy that simply are not true. You will never find garlic bread with your pasta, there will be no chicken with your chicken alfredo and for heavens sake, there will be no meatballs with your spaghetti; not as long as you are eating Italian food in Italy.

If you haven't seen the movie "The Big Night" run out and rent yourself a copy tonight. It is a story about two Italian immigrant brothers who are trying to start an Italian restaurant in America. One of my favorite scenes is when a women in the restaurant tries to order spaghetti with meatballs. Of course the brothers are appalled that someone would want to eat such a thing. The best line in the movie is when Stanly Tucci's character politely explains that "Sometimes the spaghetti likes to be alone".

Though you can always find yourself a plate of spaghetti with meatballs in America, here in Italy "the spaghetti likes to be alone".