Member-only story
How to Eat Dinner in Italy: The Advice You Really Need
Take it from an ex-pat who made all the mistakes.
You’re not just a tourist, you’re a cool tourist. You want to travel to Italy, but not be immediately perceived as a foreigner. We should probably start with your footwear, but that’s another post. I get you. In fact, I was you. Before moving to Italy full-time four years ago, I spent many months here as a semi-tourist trying to figure things out. Therefore, I know that most of you can manage challenges like the lack of both iced coffee and any respect for crosswalks, but there’s one place where you will struggle. And by “struggle”, I mean “embarrass the crap of yourselves”.
It’s when you go out to dinner.
It’s ok! I made most of the mistakes mentioned here at the beginning and I thought I knew what I was doing. I did a semester of culinary school! I lived in New York! I knew my trenette from my tagliatelle and my orata from my ombrina, but none of it was enough to save me from looking stupid. So, let me help you to not look like a complete putz and to enjoy your trip even more. I will tell you things that you can’t get in a travel guide or on a dumb YouTube video where some asshole in espadrilles is telling you how to order the right amount of balls on your cone of gelato.
Ready to do this? Let’s start at the beginning.
You will make reservations.
As you may have guessed from every depiction of anything Italian in the media ever, people are pretty serious about food here. Restaurants want you to enjoy the experience with them and reservations indicate your interest in doing so. Consider it a culinary mating call, except they woo you back with prosciutto.
Also, restaurants pay much more attention to ingredients here, so allowing the kitchen to be aware of how many guests they will have that night ensures that you will get the best and freshest of everything. I have seen restaurants in the tourist areas haul out the frozen branzino fillets when they get slammed out of nowhere. They’ll never admit that either.
The good news is that you likely come from a place with shitty farmed seafood anyway and you won’t know the difference. Still, take my word for it and…
