The food in Italy has always been very popular and has expanded throughout the world.  Italians love the food that they eat as well as what they make.  To them food is considered pleasurable and nourishment.  Italians believe that the food they eat is symbolic and it resembles the sun, music, zest for life and exuberant joy.  When cooking, their food is straightforward and they rely on flavor combinations as well as simple cooking methods and combine love, skill, and instinct with their food.  Italians always share their ingredients with others and they prepare their tables so neatly before every meal. 

We all know that pasta is the most popular food in Italy and it is also very common throughout the world.  For a normal Italian family dinner, pasta is the main course of the meal and for a formal dinner, pasta is served just before the main course of the meal.  When it comes to pasta, it varies throughout Italy.  For example, big pasta tubes, like rigatoni, are preferred in the south of Italy; as for the stuffed pasta shapes, like ravioli, are a favorite in the northern regions and last but not least, tagliatelle predominates are popular in the center of Italy.  As for spaghetti, which everybody knows, it is everywhere in Italy.

When Italians eat their meals they usually have what they call antipasto.  This consists of pickled vegetables, salami, ham, salads, even seafood salad or other seafood, in small portions.  Once they have had their antipasto, then soup would follow after, but if they do not choose to have an antipasto then a salad would be considered their side dish.  Their salads are very colorful but yet tasteful.  They consist of green zucchini, bright red tomatoes, and black olives, or white mozzarella against red tomatoes sprinkled with green fresh basil. As for the salad dressing, it is always based on olive oil.

Italians are also huge cheese lovers.  Some strong flavored cheeses like parmigiano reggiano, grana padano or pecorino Romano are always grated on top of pasta.  When Italians have completed their meal, they usually have fruit, soft flavored cheeses or dessert like pana cotta, cream stuffed canola, tiramisu, and ice cream.