Italy In SF

When describing weddings the difference in culture is the most evident. As you attend a wedding in different countries, different aspects are considered most important, and not surprisingly in Italy food takes center stage!

A guest to an American wedding asked how the wedding was will probably mention the bride’s dress, the color scheme, the number of bridesmaid, and the decorations and flowers. In Italy however, when asked how a wedding was, a guest will always reply: “Good, we ate:…”, and a staggering list of dishes is then paraded for your hearing pleasure.

Food is so embedded in Italian culture that its abundance- or its penury- drives a lot of the social interactions. Even in modern Italy, weddings are a big affair, and the wedding reception is by far the most important element for the families to showcase their means. So much so, in fact, that the quantity of food is the most important thing at a reception, while quality is only the second concern. Wedding sizes change greatly- whereas in Southern Italy is not unusual to have 300 guests at a wedding, in the north it is more common to have around one hundred- but in both cases the quantity of food will be the measure of a wedding’s success.

By the same token, it’s much more important for the cake to be good than pretty. So, typical wedding cakes in Italian weddings are simple, not particularly pretty (at least by American standards!), but it’s compulsory for them to be incredibly good- custard, zabaione and freshly whipped cream take center stage!

A typical Italian wedding meal, usually a lunch, will last over 4 hours, and it will be made of at least 5 appetizers, 3 pasta dishes, and two or more secondi courses, fish and/or meat based dishes. Sitting down for lunch at 1pm and finishing around 6pm is pretty typical, and nobody is allowed to leave the table before having eaten through the lunch, and enjoyed the wedding cake at the end!

Filed under: Culinary Culture