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I believe your mistake comes in the assumption that Italians' diet contains a disproportionate amount of pasta. American-Italian cuisine has that leaning for su
by wuliwong 12y ago
I believe your mistake comes in the assumption that Italians' diet contains a disproportionate amount of pasta. American-Italian cuisine has that leaning for sure but I doubt their obesity rates are lower than the rest of the US population.
I lived in Pisa for 2 months and was surprised to find that the cuisine (at least in the region I stayed) focused heavily on seafood. I believe the cuisine in Sicily is a little closer to the pasta/tomato sauce centric cuisine which I grew up with in the Philadelphia area. But still, I am certain their is far more seafood in Sicily than one might think. In retrospect, I shouldn't have been surprised at the amount of seafood in the cuisine in Italy, it's a skinny peninsula and Sicily is an island. :) There is also the difference in portion sizes in Italy vs the US. I certainly have no data to support that but my anecdotal experience is in line with the hypothesis.
- toyg 12y agoYeah, fish is kinda big across the whole country. In fact, Italians tend to be surprised by how fish is not particularly valued in a lot of other countries. There are geographic and historic factors in play, obviously: Pisa was one of the "Maritime Republics" city-states at one point ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_republics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_republics ) so they clearly know their sea; nearby Tuscan cities tend to be more meat-oriented. Among other factors, I'd say that a lot of "pasta sauces" are entirely based on vegetables and prepared from fresh ingredients, something very different from processed stuff you buy in jars. I don't think portions are a factor -- they might be smaller, but even the smallest meal will have several different types of food (pasta, meat or fish, vegetables and then fruit). Single-portion meals are very rare.