{"id":4637,"date":"2015-07-08T17:54:47","date_gmt":"2015-07-08T15:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rickzullo.com\/?p=4637"},"modified":"2022-01-23T15:15:21","modified_gmt":"2022-01-23T14:15:21","slug":"fci-012-disgraces-on-the-menu-with-paolo-rigiroli","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/fci-012-disgraces-on-the-menu-with-paolo-rigiroli\/","title":{"rendered":"FCI 012 – Disgraces on the Menu with Paolo Rigiroli"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"disgraces<\/a>Moving to Rome can be shocking and confusing, to say the least. From the traffic patterns (there aren\u2019t any), to the bureaucracy (good luck with that), to the fashion trends (don\u2019t ask me) it all looks like chaos to the foreign eye. My solution has always been to remain as blissfully ignorant as possible. You\u2019d be surprise how often you can get away with that in Italy.<\/p>\n

However, it certainly doesn\u2019t take long to embrace the food culture. Starting with your morning espresso<\/em> and finishing with your after dinner amaro<\/em>, suddenly your daily routine is framed by gastronomic magic that casts a pleasant mood over your entire day.<\/p>\n

Eventually you notice, to your surprise, that there are \u201crules\u201d which govern this philosophy. For an American, this can be particularly perplexing because there seems to be no other aspect of Italian society that follows rules. What\u2019s more, in the U.S., the reverse is true: eating habits is one of the few areas of our society that doesn\u2019t<\/em> have any rules. (If you don\u2019t believe this, I can promise you that I\u2019ve seen fish tacos at a German restaurant in Florida.)<\/p>\n

\"Join<\/a>
Join the crusade: Click to Tweet!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A few years ago I began researching this phenomenon, and like many other bloggers in Italy, I decided to write a few posts on how to \u201cEat Like an Italian<\/a>.\u201d The cornerstone of this debate for me was my own little collection of the aforementioned rules. I had discovered a good number of them through my own experiences, but I was still \u201chungry\u201d for more (please excuse the pun).<\/p>\n

Then while browsing food blogs\u00a0one day, I struck gold! I found a site that was perfect in both its knowledge and perspective. I came across an Italian expat living in Canada who was writing (in English) about his native country\u2019s food traditions\u2014from the vantage point of someone who could now appreciate it more objectively from a distance. Reading his posts, I was thrilled to have found somebody who was able to translate all the mysteries of the Italian kitchen for me, while still leaving the \u201cmagic\u201d intact.<\/p>\n

Born and raised in Italy, Paolo Rigiroli has a degree in electronic engineering, specializing in biomedical technology. He works as a software engineer in Vancouver, Canada, where he has been living since 2001. In 2010, frustrated by how Italian food is misrepresented in North America, Paolo started writing a blog – Quatro Fromaggio and Other Disgraces on the Menu<\/a> – on the differences between what is thought of as Italian food and the food of continental Italy. More recently, Paolo has also been producing a podcast – Thoughts on the Table<\/a> – in which he talks with various food personalities about Italian food around the world.<\/p>\n

Disgraces on the Menu<\/h2>\n

\"spaghetti\"<\/a>Lest you think that his content is all about rules and tradition, check out the hilarious page dedicated to his collection of the Top Italian Aberrations<\/a> that he\u2019s encountered. I think we can all agree that there\u2019s a special place in Hell for the producers of \u201cSpaghetti in a Can.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s another page of the most commonly misspelled Italian words found on English-speaking websites. Care to guess the most common one, that is found on over 1.6 million webpages? Hint: It\u2019s a food item named after the Queen of Italy.<\/p>\n

This trend of mispelled words is so common (and frustrating) that it also became the inspiration for the name of his blog. It\u2019s \u00a0actually a compilation from some of the worst misspellings that he\u2019s seen on \u201cItalian\u201d menus in North America. Just brilliant! (see his logo below)<\/p>\n

Paolo Rigiroli<\/h2>\n

I would like to give a big \u201cGRAZIE\u201d once again to my friend Paolo for taking the time to discuss this topic further with me. I can honestly say that meeting Paolo was a real giant leap forward for my knowledge on the subject of Italian food. And I\u2019m not just talking about specific regional recipes or cooking techniques (although Paolo knows a lot about those subjects). What interests me is the way that regional recipes and food traditions contribute to the larger culture.<\/p>\n

\"quatrofromaggio\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Not only is the food itself delicious and healthy, but it provides a lifestyle, a daily rhythm. As Paolo told me, \u201cThese rules come from an evolution of habits and best practices passed down from generation to generation. It\u2019s all about balance, restraint, and tradition – with the ultimate goals of good flavors and wellbeing.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can find Paolo on his blog and podcast list above. He\u2019s also on social media, so be sure to connect with him there to get your serving of Italian food knowledge.<\/p>\n

Facebook: Disgraces on the Menu<\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter: @quatrofromaggio<\/a><\/p>\n

Click the link to check out other episodes and see my list of the <\/span>best podcasts about Italy<\/b><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\nhttp:\/\/feeds.soundcloud.com\/stream\/213386307-rick-zullo-1-fci-012-disgraces-on-the-menu-with-paolo-rigiroli.mp3<\/a><\/audio><\/div>

Podcast: Play in new window<\/a> | Download<\/a> (Duration: 45:48 — 41.9MB) | Embed<\/a><\/p>

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Subscribe: Email<\/a> | RSS<\/a> | More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Moving to Rome can be shocking and confusing, to say the least. From the traffic patterns (there aren\u2019t any), to the bureaucracy (good luck with that), to the fashion trends (don\u2019t ask me) it all looks like chaos to the foreign eye. My solution has always been to remain as blissfully ignorant as possible. You\u2019d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,344],"tags":[61,155,345,368],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4637"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4637"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4637\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11831,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4637\/revisions\/11831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rickzullo.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}