Spaghetti with garlic and oil — and in this case, black pepper Spaghetti with garlic and oil, otherwise known in Italian as spaghetti aglio e olio, originated in Naples. It is a simple pasta dish made from inexpensive ingredients, and that affordability has meant variations of the dish have since spread across Italy. Making Spaghetti aglio e olio is easy enough. Heat the oil in a pan with several cloves of chopped garlic. Cook the pasta al dente, and then toss in the hot oil before serving. Live on the wild side and top with black pepper or parmigiana cheese. It’s a basic pasta recipe, but o ..read more

A panzerotto from Panzerotti Bites on Smith Street in Brooklyn is a traditional-style panzerotto filled with mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce, fried in a thin pizza dough Circulating on pizza message boards and other corners of the internet where pizza enthusiasts gather, a photograph of a sign advertising Florida Style Pizza has been making the rounds. Readers are confused: what is Florida-style pizza? Perhaps the strangest part of this story is the Florida Style Pizza has origins in Philadelphia. At the corner of Snyder Ave and South Beachwood, the sign is still visible in old street vie ..read more

The zeppole di San Giuseppe are filled with custard or ricotta cream The Feast of San Giuseppe is celebrated every year on March 19, and is also known as Festa del Papá, father’s day in Italy. The feast day celebrates Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary. But it also means one thing for Italian American bakeries: zeppole di San Giuseppe. When most people think of zeppole, the image of a fried ball of dough comes to mind, usually sold at street festivals by the dozen and covered in powdered sugar. The St. Joseph’s Day zeppole is a different sweet pastry entirely. The pastry originates in Naples ..read more

Italians make pasta con le sarde with fresh fish, but Italian Americans are more likely to use canned anchovies preserved in oil Macaroni con le sarde, or a pasta con le sarde, is a traditional Sicilian pasta made with a sauce of fresh sardines and fennel greens and tossed with toasted breadcrumbs. While a common dish in Sicily, it’s less well known in the United States, except perhaps, in New Orleans where it has become the cornerstone of the St. Joseph’s Day celebration. Macaroni con le sarde can be traced back to the 9th century during the Muslim conquest of Sicily. It’s similar to a dish ..read more

An Italian hot dog topped with onions, peppers, and potatoes. Italian Americans are well known for a variety of sausages, but hot dogs aren’t usually considered an Italian sausage. However, that didn’t stop the Italians in New Jersey from adopting the hot dog, and making it uniquely their own. The New Jersey original Italian hot dog has clear links to another favorite–the sausage and pepper hero sandwich. That sandwich has been a mainstay of street festivals celebrating Italian holidays and saints since the early 20th century and were notably part of festivals like New York City’s San Gennar ..read more

An Italian beef sandwich from Al’s Number 1 Italian Beef in Chicago Chicago’s meatpacking industry helped make beef a staple on American plates, but it also shaped an iconic Italian sandwich. Chicago’s location at the intersection of western agriculture and eastern consumer markets made it an ideal place to process cattle into edible beef and packaged it onto railcars to ship to cities. These are the stockyards that served as the setting for the iconic Upton Sinclair novel, The Jungle, outlining the hazardous working conditions and impoverished laborers. Italian immigrants arriving in Chicag ..read more

This past year saw plenty of great Italian-inspired cookbook. There were a few trends of course like the popularity of “cucina povera,” a style of cooking associated with Italian peasants, like those who came to the United States during the great migration. Seafood and coastal regions were also popular this year, from the Amalfi Coast to Sicily to Italy’s many smaller islands. What I love about some of these books is the ability for them to transport the reader to the places they are focusing in on — this is particularly true of the first book on the list by Katie Parla. With the cookbooks th ..read more

A panettone with the dome-like shape Nothing is quite like cutting open a panettone on Christmas morning. It’s a tradition that has been in my family since before I even liked eating bread filled with candied fruit. While Panettone has become an important Italian Christmas tradition, the modern recipe synonymous with the holiday only evolved in the mid-twentieth century. Today, the bread is made with enriched dough, a brioche-type bread that bakes up light and fluffy, a rich golden yellow, and filled with candied fruit. The tall breads have a dome, intended to look like the cupola of a cathe ..read more

The Olive Garden restaurant chain is often ridiculed by Italian Americans. The experience is inauthentic, the pasta overcooked, and the Alfredo sauce made with heavy cream. Yet, in one respect, the success of the chain represents the acceptance and integration of Italian American culture as simply mainstream American culture. The origins of Olive Garden begin in the 1970s when the General Mills company went on an acquisition spree. The food manufacturer best known for milling flour, spread beyond the processed foods like cold cereal, Betty Crocker, and Pillsbury. The growing conglomerate even ..read more

Philadelphia might be best known for its cheesesteak, but there’s a secret sandwich lurking in the city of Brotherly love. The Philadelphia Italian Roast Pork sandwich is a local delicacy created in the city a century ago by Italian immigrants, and it’s since become a local favorite that’s hard to find outside the city. The same shops making Philadelphia’s iconic cheesesteak, another Italian American creation, also typically sell the roast pork sandwich. While the cheesesteak has since gone onto become a nationally known food, the Italian roast pork sandwich has remained a regional dish, simi ..read more