Want to Know it? Answers to life's questions

Have a Question?

If you have a question you can search for the answer below!

What do Italians Eat

16 Feb, 2008 what do

Italy is a European country rich in history with diverse cultures and languages. Italian food, such as pizza and spaghetti, is loved by millions of people worldwide. But what do Italians eat? This article will explore the typical Italian diet and discover exactly what do Italians eat in a typical day. I will also give three facts you may or may not know about Italy.

To answer the question what do Italians eat it is best to list all the individual meals eaten in a typical day.

Breakfast

Italians do not eat bacon, eggs, toast or pancakes for breakfast. Italians typically eat a croissant or some yoghurt for breakfast with a cup of coffee or a cappuccino.

Morning Tea

For morning tea (taken around 10-11am) Italians tend to eat sandwiches with very thin slices of ham and/or cheese.

Lunch

Lunch is the biggest meal of the day for Italians and they literally keep on eating for hours! Italians often take three hour lunch breaks. Pizzas are a common meal at lunch. Italian pizzas are very thin and have limited toppings. Italians nearly always eat vegetarian pizzas. Bread without butter and salads are also very common at lunch. Pastas are also common at lunchtime and the pasta is usually full of vegetables. Occasionally, gelato is eaten at lunchtime but it is usually saved until after dinner.

Dinner

Italians always eat a lighter meal at dinner than at lunch. Vegetables are eaten every single night and are often accompanied by pasta. Meat is rarely eaten, and fish is much more common than red meat. Cheeses and nuts are usually served before and after dinner is eaten.

Dessert

Fresh fruit is usually the common choice for dessert. Gelato (Italian ice cream) is sometimes eaten as a treat for dessert.

That is a typical Italian diet for the day. Even though Italians eat a lot of food, they manage to keep fantastic figures. The Mediterranean diet is becoming popular for those who want to lose weight.

Now that you know the answer to the question what do Italians eat, let’s look at three quick facts about Italy.

Fact 1: Italy is shaped like a boot

Fact 2: Italy’s capital Rome is the home of the Catholic Church

Fact 3: The most popular sport in Italy is football (or soccer)

So now you know what do Italians eat and three fast facts about Italy!

(52) Comments

  1. claire

    so all italians eat is basically pasta veggies and pizza
    they dont have any original foods like foods we dont eat here???

  6. Chloe hill :D

    hiiyaa umm. i think italians eat more than just pizza and pastass.. im doing a school project and i need to have about 10 commonly eaten foods that they eat.. and im not having good luckk.. i need a penny.. um so yeah this is way harder than i thought and i dont think italians eat pizza and pasta every day!! sooo yeah 🙂 help pweese

  7. Chloe hill :D

    if someone could help me out and name some foods that italians eat that would be FANTABULASTICCCCC! so feel free to help muah out 😀

  8. Want to know it

    Here are 12.
    Pizza
    Pasta
    Croissants
    Sandwiches (with thin slices of ham and cheese)
    Salads
    Bread (without butter)
    Fish
    Fresh fruits
    Gelato
    Cheese (Italians eat a lot of cheese)
    Nuts
    Fresh vegetables

  11. Want to know it

    They will usually have a few biscuits, such as biscotti. They might also have some nuts, cheese and fresh bread.

  13. Angel

    Many thanks for this information it has helped alot. We are going to be hosting foreign students and we have italians coming this weekend so this has really helped. Cheers

  19. Gloria

    It depends on what part of Italy you are in…some eat a lot of polenta…sometimes with spaghetti sauce and sometimes with a brown meat sauce…..they eat fruit salad which they call macedonia….or sometimes just fresh fruit and cheese for dessert.

  21. keila

    My family is harsh old school italian, pasta, homegrown vegetables from my garden, lots of fruits, tomatoes, figs, green beans, lots of meat, sausages, pasta, lamb and baked buns, pastries not so much pizza though

  22. keke

    i have recently cooked Italian at school it was amazing i think they love there food because its very special to them and others in Italy.

  24. kayley

    I really liked this website, it told me a lot about what they eat and i think that i would like to go to italy and try some of their food out for myself.

  25. jennifer

    i love this website and i love Italians and the food there is so good and it is the best place i went to in my life

  26. Caitlin

    This site really did help me out, i am almost done my project now. You can hardly find just a simple answer for a question and here you dont even have to read much 🙂

  27. stripysocks

    I’m doing a project on Italy and to be honest the posts people put up helped me more than the actual website…so thank you people 😀

  30. Tam

    Hey, does anyone know if the Italians eat most of their meals home or out at restaurants?? Im doing a school project. so feel free to help.

  31. Hydi

    I am living in italy at the moment doing an erasmus and it is true that all they pretty much eat is pasta and pizza, mainly pizza for lunch (especialy if your buying out and not cooking) or salad (if your at home) and most definitely pasta for tea/dinner, i like both but after just eating pasta and pizza for the past im getting a bit sick of it, i want some gravy and some good english cheese with meat 🙂

  32. Want to know it

    @ Tam:

    Italians generally eat out for lunch but will usually eat at home for breakfast and dinner.

  35. Stella

    My son loves Italian dishes but is allergic to dairy products. Whenever he eats cheese, he itches and his skin develops into hives. What do allergic Italians eat in place of cheese, cow’s milk, etc.?

  36. Want to know it

    I’m afraid I don’t really know Stella. I would assume they have soy milk and soy cheese instead. I know that many who are allergic to wheat use different types of flour (such as rice flour).

  38. christen

    i am Italian and why it seems like we mostly do eat Pizza and Pasta we eat other things as well lol and us italian’s do eat meat most common meat we eat is usually sausage or chicken

  39. Want to know it

    Yes- I know Italians do eat some meat but they don’t eat it as much as other cultures. Chicken or fish is generally preferred, although they do like sausages as well.

  45. Amy

    Your information helped a lot!!!! Thank you!!! And what is the most popular food? What is the most common food? Please answer!!!

  46. Want to know it

    Amy- I really don’t know the answers to those questions but I would guess pizza as it is eaten very regularly by Italians.

  47. toriii

    i think that was good information cause i needed it for a project and it made me finish so it is good :))for whoever it reading this

  50. chrissie

    i recommended this site for anyone who is doing a project on italian foods i have been to italy and i loved every single bit of it. 🙂

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

You can use these HTML tags and attributes <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>