In general, Italians are nice, friendly people, but there are some things they can´t take a joke about – food is certainly one of them.
Pasta is not pasta
Speaking about Bologna, the export winner “Bolognese Spaghetti” just doesn´t exist, in Bologna it´s called “tagliatelle con ragou´” and while for non-Italians it´s not a problem at all to substitute the tagliatelle with spaghetti because it´s easier to get, it´s a “no go” for Italians. Tagliatelle are flat with a rough surface, so the sauce will stick better to it. Explaining these kind of rules to my clients, I often find a lack of understanding, reactions like: “They should take it easy” or “Who cares!”, and the lazy part in me agrees: it´s so much easier to take the kind of pasta you have in the house instead of thinking of another recipe or making tagliatelle! But then I discipline myself and just do it. Why?
Italian cooking
Italian cooking became famous around the world because people here take cooking seriously, they´ve been paying attention to the details for 2000 years and you probably need to do that, to get to that level. So I learn the rules, stick to them and try to explain them – every time a client orders “Bolognese spaghetti”!
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