From pasta to pizza to ice cream, Italian cuisine has come a long way from its Italian roots in America and left its mark on Americans. According to a 2019 Statista survey, Italian cuisine is the third most popular ethnic cuisine in the United States. However, not all Italian dishes are considered “authentic” in the United States. In fact, one of the most popular Italian restaurants in the United States is closely watched by Italians: It's obviously Olive Garden.
The popular restaurant chain may call itself "Italian cuisine," but the original menu features a few dishes you'd never find in Italy. While some fans of the franchise love that the popular Italian restaurant chain is offering great deals on endless bowls of pasta for just $13.99, others turn their noses up when they see bowls of pasta with soup spoons piled on top of dry noodles. According to the Food Network, Italian restaurants don't serve pasta to customers without mixing the sauce. Many Italian chefs say that there is a right way to add sauce to pasta and that adding the sauce without stirring the sauce is definitely wrong.
Read more: 101 Best Pizzas in America
For true Italian foodies, not mixing pasta sauce is almost an insult.
They don't realize that Olive Garden is breaking this cardinal rule of pasta making, but those in Italy are flying across the Atlantic. Most authentic pasta dishes require the sauce to be mixed into the pasta to give it extra moisture. This allows the cook to control the ratio of meat to noodles to enjoy the carbohydrate-rich flavor.
Do not mix pasta types with sauces. According to Delish, "It's important to combine the right type of pasta with the right type of sauce so that the sauce harmonizes with the pasta or the pasta looks interesting." For example, long, flat tagliatelle noodles like papadelle and fettuccine are best served with meat sauces that are sweet Complement and enhance the taste of the meat. Thicker pastas like rolls go well with lighter sauces like pesto. Looking at Olive Garden's full menu, it's clear that they don't put much emphasis on the relationship between pasta types and sauces, allowing customers to create their own pasta dishes with shapes, sauces, and packaging. Something you won't find in a real Italian restaurant.
Some prefer Italian cuisine made from olive wood.
There is a lot of debate online about olive oil being fake, with some even calling it “dirty Italian food.” Many Italian chefs say Olive Garden has Americanized its dishes, layering them with cream, butter and cheese and increasing portions beyond Italian standards. From endless bread baskets to perfectly sized meatballs, Olive Garden has established itself as the most distinctive Italian dish. However, this doesn't seem to bother his fans.
Olive Garden has been a leading sit-down restaurant since its founding in 1982. The Italian restaurant chain has more than 900 restaurants across the United States, making it "the leading casual Italian restaurant," according to the company's website. Although Italians don't consider the dish authentic, American fans often advocate for their family restaurant favorites.
A Reddit poster posted a very controversial comment: After tasting local food on a trip to Italy, a man claimed that olive groves were better than real Italian food. Naturally, commentators were shocked by the warm welcome, while others had to respect some people's tastes like olive groves. Some people prefer to travel around Italy and taste authentic cuisine, while others like to book an Italy tour from Olive Garden for $29.49.
Read the first article about daily nutrition.
