Italian Eating Rules

Italian Food Etiquette - Rules You Need to Know before going to Italy!

Order courses for lunch and dinner in Italy

• Appetizers

• Pasta

• Meat / Fish

• Salad

• Fruit

• Dessert

• Coffee

• Ammazzacaffe (Grappa or Amaro)

Breakfast

Forget eggs and bacon or sausages for breakfast except possibly in a hotel that caters to American or English tastes. Cappuccino and brioche are one of the few options. You can choose a yogurt, tea, melba toast with nutella or jam or cookies.

Lunch and Dinner

• No butter should be served to spread on your bread. The bread-oil routine is not used as an appetizer. In Italy you will have a real appetizer.

• No bread should be eaten together with pasta. Bread is only allowed near a pasta dish to do a good old fashioned "scarpetta" that is, to wipe the remain sauce off the plate and enjoy every last bit of it.

• To eat spaghetti, you only use a fork (only small children use spoons to help them out). Italians have been eating spaghetti all their life ... Once upon a time the use of spoon to roll your fork on was common. However, it is not used anymore - the spoon is definitely out of fashion now.

• You will have salad with salt, olive oil and vinegar but not with ranch or, worse yet "Italian" salad dressing.

• No milk with your meal. Milk is only for breakfast. You can drink water, wine, beer or soda. Traditionally, white wine goes with fish, red wine goes with meat. White wine is traditionally chilled, red wine (except for sparkling red) should be served at room temperature.

• Do not ask cappuccino for lunch and dinner. Traditionally coffees with milk (cappuccino) are for breakfast. Lunch and dinner are followed by espressos.