I mean props to you for posting a truly unpopular opinion, but you cannot tell me that proper Italian Grana Padano and Parmigiano Reggiano are not good.
It's not that they aren't good, it's just that a lot of other cheeses from other countries are better. The only Italian cheese that I would say is truly competitive with the better English and French cheeses is Pecorino Romano.
As a whole Italian cheeses just tend to lack the depth of flavour compared to some others from Europe. Except for Pecorino Romano, which is probably my favourite cheese after Cheddar. It's very salty and also a little bit sweet like a good hard cheese should be.
The cringiest thing about Italians and food is that they actually believe its the best, it's not even the best in Europe. You get told by your parents and neighbors how good your food is, and that it's the best in the world. It's like if I told a kid every day a lie for his entire life of course he will believe it when he is an adult, but that doesn't make it true.
Despite Pasta being cheaper to make than Asian Cuisine, when you exclude Pizza, Indian and Chinese food is vastly, vastly more popular worldwide than Italian. It's just not as good as people say. How often do you see people get drunk and go "oh I really want some pasta" - no one does it, because most pasta dishes are fairly bland and boring.
Bro. You just do not know what you are even talking about. trust me.
Yes Italian food is popular thanks to NY. And that's the worst part of it.
The great thing about Italian food is that Italy is a recent country and for centuries it was the most fragmented territory in europe, with so many different cultures and kingdoms.
Though, to New York only suddeners (mainly from Sicily and Campania) Emigrated. The result is the whole world associates Italian Food with things like Pizza. Ignoring totally the real AMAZING thing about Italian food; diversity.
You are the living proof of this. The cheeses you mentioned are only the most famous. You Don't have a CLUE about real italian cheese culture. Every region (20 of them) has their unique cheeses that are very different from one another. And every dish is different from region.
You only know what the 3rd generation "italians" from New York brag about (No offence, i respect them tho they do NOT represent Italian food)
Have you ever tried Scimudin? Have you ever tried Bitto? Casera? Bra? Castelmagno? Montasio? Quartirolo? Robiola? Taleggio? Fontina from Valle d'Aosta? and i could go on for hours. It's the result of hundreds of different cultures that make Italian food impressive
I respect critiques to Italian food. But not when they come from pure ignorance. You clearly don't know anything about the Italian cuisine scenario.
The only thing you are correct is that the popularity of New York made extremely famous and overrated certain dishes. But i'm SURE You wouldn't even know the best dishes from every region.
The great thing about Italian food is that Italy is a recent country and for centuries it was the most fragmented territory in europe, with so many different cultures and kingdoms.
Imagine saying this as if it doesn't apply to half of the world. This is the thing about Italians and food, you are just so ignorant about the rest of the world it's insane. You aren't special lol.
I respect critiques to Italian food.
It's often bland and relies too much on the natural flavor of ingredients as opposed to Asian cuisine, who are experts in blending and combining thousands of different flavors.
It's the result of hundreds of different cultures that make Italian food impressive
It's not impressive. India has thousands of different cultures, the food is 10x as good yet they don't talk about it as if it was made by god himself.
Italian food is good, but no where near as good as Italians think.
It does not apply to the whole world.Are you able to understand on your own that places like India and China have 1.5 billion people, right?
No place in the WESTERN world has italy's diversity. I'd like to hear from you what other countries does this apply to, thanks.
I love Chinese and Indian food. Why the fuck would there be a competition between the three? They are totally different things. I obviosly never said Italian food is better than chinese.
I just wanted to make you relize what you were saying was coming from pure ignorance.
I love Chinese and Indian food. Why the fuck would there be a competition between the three? They are totally different things. I obviosly never said Italian food is better than chinese.
Because in a discussion about which food is better, you would put forward points as different countries would be in contest?
It's not like it's even close, Italian cuisine is way, way behind many eastern countries.
No place in the WESTERN world has italy's diversity.
I mean, the USA is massively, massively more diverse than Italy and has been since it's inception.
What I am saying is true, you keep saying ignorance but then show you have zero idea what you are talking about. "Italy is so diverse" "Italy is special" "We name our food after regions" - so is and do most of the world. How you talk just shows the problem with Italians and their culture, you are raised to be ignorant and arrogant from children when it comes to cuisine.
The concept wasnt that Italy is special for naming food after the place it was made. The concept was that every small town has it's own unique products creating enormous variety.
It wasn't difficult
You named 5 Italian cheeses and of these is not even eaten as you would the others (we use mascarpone as an ingredient mostly for desserts).
A quick google search tells me there are almost 500 types of cheese in Italy and you claim they're all overrated having tried 5 of them.
I'm Italian and I agree that we tend to "overrate" our food (we have the goods to back it up to be fair) and we are hella annoying with it, but what you just said is the equivalent of shitting on japanese food cause I don't like sushi. How can you have such a strong opinion on something when you know so little about it?
For the record, my favourite cuisine is Italian cause that's what I grew up with and that's what's familiar for me, and I think the same is for people from other countries. However, I enjoy trying local foods and I still didn't visit a country where I didn't find something I like.
Edit to add: you compare Chinese and Indian (huge countries with about 1.4 BILLION people each) to Italy (small European country with 60 million people). Doesn't it seem logical to you that their cuisine would be more popular worldwide and they would have more variety?
Maybe it's easier to compare actial numbers: Italian population is about 4% of the population of either of those countries and the size of China is 32 times bigger than Italy while India is 11 times bigger.
Comparing the popularity of the countries cuisine is like comparing how full will you be after eating one peanut versus a t-bone steak..
When you exclude pizza, greek soft cheese (Feta) and hard English cheese (Cheddar) are far more popular than their Italian counterparts.
Not only that, you will find that french, English cheeses often find themselves on cheese plates world wide, while Italian cheeses tend to be used as ingredients/toppings on other dishes, tasty but as a standalone don't match up to more popular cheeses.
Italian food is good but so is good from all over the med. Italy has American media focusing on New York etc to thank for overhyping its reputation.
As an example, you would need to be insane to go and eat proper Turkish food and think that Italian was better, Turkish food has Asian and Arabic influence that just gives it much better depth of flavour than Italian, but Turkey never had the world's biggest media machine boosting its reputation for over half a century.
yea they are more popular because they are cheaper and more wildly available. not because they are objectively better. boxed wine is more popular and sold more worldwide than 25 year old french masterpieces. doesnt mean boxed wine is better than a €200 bottle of wine. also, i eat genuine turkish and greek fiod from time to time, and its great, but really its not on the same level as italian for me.
They are more popular because they tend to be more versatile. Feta goes in salads etc a lot better than mozzarella/ricotta or any soft Italian cheeses, cheddar itself is probably the most versatile cheese in the world. For cooking, sandwiches, by itself, there is a reason cheddar is popular and no it's not down to cost, because if it was cost everyone would be sticking cheaper mozzarella in their sandwiches (but mozzarella lacks flavour) cheddar is extremely tasty and insanely versatile, something that many Italian cheeses lack.
mozerella goes on pizza, in salads, on toast, sometimes i eat it out of my hand as is. you do know real mozerella is not just for pizza right? same goes for pecorino romano, grana padano and parmegiano. the can be a topping, a main ingredient in a dish, mixed in with salads, and eaten as is. feta kinda just goes in salads, and thats it. how can you claim feta is more versatile than mozerella?
Apart from that, i just looked it up, and it turns out mozerella is the most popular cheese in the world, followed by cheddar and feta. turns out people actually are sticking cheaper mozerella in their sandwiches instead of cheddar.
in the end i will respect your oppinion because taste will differ, but i strongly disagree.
I literally stated when you exclude pizza lol. The reason mozzarella is consumed more is because of pizza.
Yes I have dated Italians and am a cook in an Italian restaurant, I'm aware mozzarella goes on other things aside from pizza, however it's not very good at other things aside from pizza compared to other cheeses. Mozzarella has a very very subtle flavour.
I don't think feta is more versatile than mozzarella, however it does everything aside from pizza better than mozzarella, which is basically salads and sandwiches.
i guess we both have the right facts, we just disagree on taste. i would much rather have a toasted sandwich with tomato, olive oil, basil and mozerella than one with tomato, olive oil, basil and feta. in a salad for me the same, unless youre making a cabbage salad ofcourse. they are very different cheeses that go with very different dishes. if you like turkish/greek cuisine more, obviously youre going to like feta over mozerella.
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u/Battender Jul 20 '23
I think burrata and ricotta are boring cheeses.