The Italian Day According To Cuisine
from Italian Traditional Food

Defining the Italian day

All over the world people look to specific times during the day to determine what meal it is that they are to eat. The Italian day is no different in the regard however; over the years things have progressed a touch and have taken on a more modern timetable.

It is nothing for the western society to wake in the morning and indulge in a large breakfast that usually consists of some form of eggs. Along with these eggs, usually comes some form of meat most often it would be bacon or ham. This will be followed up with toast and coffee, and a small glass of juice.

This in comparison to many European countries is considered a very large breakfast. Most countries such as Italy and Spain do not eat such grand meals so early, opting to simply rise to a coffee and perhaps a pastry.

Lunch Is Always Grand

An Italian day where cuisine is concerned generally does not kick off until the lunch hours, and this is where things differ greatly from Italian's North American counterparts. You will notice if you have ever visited or lived in Italy, that lunch can actually be rather large in scale.

This means that while you will have a small portion of say a cup of a various pasta or soup, you may in fact sample several of these "cups" lending to several first meals as they call it. This is something that is not practiced in the western culture, yet you may find those of Italian decent using similar dining routines in the Americas.

The time frame that the Italians in Italy eat lunch is at approximate times that the United States would consider lunchtime, and this is around 1:00 pm give or take an hour.

Much Of The Same For Dinner

The Italian day usually closes with a dinner approximately 7 hours past the time that lunch was eaten. This is not to imply that there are no various snacks throughout the day, it just means that the primary two meals are generally spaced out fairly well.

When it comes time for dinner in Italy, it is basically much of the same that you encountered with lunch. You will start with a small pasta or soup, then you will move on to a main dish such as fish, chicken or beef, and then you will close with coffee and some form of dessert.

This is really no different than an America meal of sorts however in Italy they seem to break the meal up into various courses or segments. The western society will usually group the first and second course together and close with dessert.

Larger Plates? Or Seconds?

Perhaps the only thing that can easily be separated between an Italian day, and an American day as far as cuisine is concerned is the size of the portions. In Italy it is usually a larger portion offered than it is in the west.

This is not to say that the American culture does not or cannot eat like the Italians, what it means is that the Italians will take more time at the table than the American culture due to its choice for socialization during a meal.

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