One of the most common stereotypes about Italian people is that they always eat pasta and pizza. Judging from these images taken from two famous films, whose stars are Alberto Sordi and Totò, it seems to be true. However, Italian tradition offers a great variety of food that is known and appreciated all over the world. We must confess that we are so tied to the Italian culinary traditions that, when we travel abroad, we are worried about food. We look for Italian restaurants, but, sometimes, we suffer from bitter disappointments.

Just make a trip to the United States or to some European countries to see altered our culinary rituals: ketchup used as tomato sauce, cappuccino drunk at any time, overcooked pasta, only to cite some examples. Here are 6 rules to teach foreigners how to avoid culinary horrors and enjoy a real Italian speciality.

For some strange reasons, this tablecloth is associated with Italian food and the stereotype of the "spaghetti-eating“. In fact, all the Italian restaurants abroad use it. Probably the tourists who visit Italy will be disappointed when they find that we never use it. Except maybe some restaurants for tourists only.

Coffee and cappuccino are the pride of Italian people in the world, but the first one is consumed at the end of the meal and cappuccino for breakfast, accompanied by a croissant or a brioche. If you want, you can order a cappuccino after a meal, but you should know that an Italian would never do that.

In Italy, there are at least 300 different varieties of pasta. The best known difference is between long and short pasta, smooth or rigate. In general, long pasta is combined with liquid, tomato sauces, fish or seafood sauces. Short pasta is used to be seasoned with sauces of meat or vegetables. Another wrong commonplace is that pasta has to be very cooked to be digestible. On the contrary,, you have to drain it “al dente” because it is more digestible, not sticky and enhances the taste of the sauce.

In many foreign countries, pasta and risotti are served as side – dishes, next to another food. It is a mistake that it is considered sacrilege in Italy.

It is probably the most famous dish of Italian tradition, “fettuccine al ragù”. The original recipe is made of noodles, not spaghetti, with Bolognese sauce. In Italy, the right combination of pasta and sauce is a must.

The fettuccine Alfredo are the most famous Italian dish in the United States, but totally unknown in Italy. These noodles, served with butter and Parmesan cheese, were in fact invented in the Bel Paese by Alfredo Di Lelio, a restaurant owner in Rome, but it never became a "traditional dish". Yet, overseas, it is incredibly popular. American tourists who arrive in Italy hoping to taste fettuccine Alfredo in any restaurant are usually disappointed.