Italian cuisine is renowned for its rich flavors, fresh ingredients, and diverse dishes. Here are descriptions of some popular Italian foods:
1. **Pizza Margherita**: A classic pizza topped with fresh mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, and basil, representing the colors of the Italian flag. The crust is thin, and the flavors are simple yet vibrant.
2. **Pasta Carbonara**: A creamy pasta dish typically made with eggs, pancetta, Pecorino Romano cheese, and black pepper. The sauce is rich and velvety, coating the pasta perfectly.
3. **Lasagna**: Layers of flat pasta sheets alternated with ragù (a meat sauce), béchamel, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, baked to a golden perfection. It's a hearty and comforting dish.
4. **Risotto**: A creamy rice dish made with Arborio rice slowly cooked in broth and mixed with various ingredients like mushrooms, saffron, or seafood. The texture is smooth and slightly al dente.
5. **Bruschetta**: Grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with fresh tomatoes, basil, and a drizzle of olive oil. It's a simple yet flavorful appetizer.
6. **Tiramisu**: A popular Italian dessert made with layers of coffee-soaked ladyfingers, mascarpone cheese, and cocoa powder. It’s light, creamy, and slightly bitter from the coffee and cocoa.
7. **Gnocchi**: Soft, pillowy dumplings made from potatoes and flour, often served with a variety of sauces such
1. **Pizza Margherita**: A classic pizza topped with fresh mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, and basil, representing the colors of the Italian flag. The crust is thin, and the flavors are simple yet vibrant.
2. **Pasta Carbonara**: A creamy pasta dish typically made with eggs, pancetta, Pecorino Romano cheese, and black pepper. The sauce is rich and velvety, coating the pasta perfectly.
3. **Lasagna**: Layers of flat pasta sheets alternated with ragù (a meat sauce), béchamel, and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, baked to a golden perfection. It's a hearty and comforting dish.
4. **Risotto**: A creamy rice dish made with Arborio rice slowly cooked in broth and mixed with various ingredients like mushrooms, saffron, or seafood. The texture is smooth and slightly al dente.
5. **Bruschetta**: Grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with fresh tomatoes, basil, and a drizzle of olive oil. It's a simple yet flavorful appetizer.
6. **Tiramisu**: A popular Italian dessert made with layers of coffee-soaked ladyfingers, mascarpone cheese, and cocoa powder. It’s light, creamy, and slightly bitter from the coffee and cocoa.
7. **Gnocchi**: Soft, pillowy dumplings made from potatoes and flour, often served with a variety of sauces such
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CreativityTranscript
00:00So in Italy, we don't celebrate Halloween.
00:09It's not an official holiday and most people, especially the older people, don't know what
00:12Halloween even is.
00:14But the younger generations, because they consume so much American media, they want
00:19to celebrate it and so they get all dressed and they go around trick-or-treating.
00:22But what happens, or at least what used to happen when I was younger, is that you go
00:26around trick-or-treating and 8 out of 10 times, nobody opens their door or they see
00:30you through their window and they completely ignore you.
00:33And the very small percentage that does open their door, they don't have candy at their
00:37home so they give you coins or random old pastries that they find in their cabinets.
00:42And it was super frustrating.
00:43And my friends, I remember they would come on my parents' restaurant and take random
00:47things like eggs or flour and throw it at people's doorbells every time that they would
00:51ignore us or they just wouldn't open the door.
00:54And in retrospect, I feel really bad about that because I would hate if someone did that
00:58to my home.
00:59But we didn't know better, we were like 6 and unsupervised.
01:02These are my Halloween memories and being here in Canada, where every house is decorated
01:06for Halloween, is like the biggest culture shock for me.
01:09I love it, it's my favorite season.
01:11But what we do have is Carnival, which is in February and it's basically the Italian
01:16version of Halloween, I guess, except we don't dress as scary things but we dress as happy
01:21things.
01:22Another holiday that you guys don't have here is called Befana or like Epiphany I think
01:27in English.
01:28And the Befana is basically this old scary lady that goes around on a broom and on the
01:337th of January, if you've been a good kid, she brings you a stocking full of candy, but
01:38if you've been a bad kid, she brings you a stocking full of coal.
01:41For today's video, we are going to be doing another food video because I've accepted that
01:46my channel is a food channel and all you guys want to see is food.
01:51And I love eating, so it's a perfect combination.
01:53So I've had this idea that today I would be trying and rating Italian-American dishes,
01:59which is this category of foods that people here in Canada and in the US seem to think
02:04that Italians eat, like most famous example is fettuccine Alfredo, but in reality, in
02:09Italy, we don't eat those things, like I'm pretty sure no Italian in Italy has ever heard
02:14of fettuccine Alfredo.
02:16Like last time, we're going to be making a list.
02:18So first thing, we're doing fettuccine Alfredo, of course, but I thought that I would make
02:24it even more American and add chicken to it.
02:27Number two, we're doing another popular one, which is chicken Parmesan.
02:31Number three, spaghetti with meatballs.
02:33To be honest, I think somewhere in Italy, people eat spaghetti with meatballs, like
02:37in some region, but everybody seems to think that it's like the main thing that every Italian
02:42eats, but no, like I don't think I've ever had spaghetti with meatballs before.
02:47Four, we're going to do garlic bread.
02:49Five, we're going to do calamari, but with a dipping sauce.
02:53We have calamari in Italy, but we don't use dipping sauces.
02:57Number six is Italian dressing.
03:00Number seven is Italian wedding soup.
03:02Can I please have chicken parm with a side of fettuccine Alfredo?
03:07Yeah, with ham or no ham.
03:10Actually, can I add chicken to that instead of ham?
03:12So you want chicken parm with fettuccine Alfredo and add chicken to the fettuccine Alfredo?
03:16Yeah, is that possible?
03:18Sure.
03:19Okay, thank you.
03:20While we wait for the food to be ready, I'm going to just take the chance to thank today's
03:23sponsor, which is Native.
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04:13$26, which is more than 33% off.
04:15And with my code, you can also get 20% off toothpaste and body washes.
04:19So thank you so much, Native, for sponsoring today's video, and now let's go pick up our
04:23food.
04:24This is exactly what a non-authentic Italian restaurant looks like.
04:27It's like a whole bunch of Italian flags and the random name with Mama in it.
04:33Very typical Canadian-Italian restaurant, which is perfect for the challenge.
04:42We got all of our food.
04:43For five dishes, I only paid $47, which is actually a really good price.
04:48The Italian restaurant where I used to work, actually I'm still working there one day a
04:52week.
04:53Every time someone comes and order fettuccine alfredo or asks for a dipping sauce for their
04:57calamari, my boss is like, oh, it's another manja cake.
05:00So manja cake is a term that is used here by Canadian-Italian people, and it means cake
05:06eaters.
05:07And I'm still not sure what exactly it means.
05:10Okay, let's open everything up.
05:11I have a nail appointment in one hour.
05:13I'm getting my nails done for the very first time in my life.
05:17Okay, so we have the chicken parm with a side of fettuccine alfredo with chicken, the calamari,
05:23which are looking a bit weird, I'm not gonna lie, and a side of marinara sauce, spaghetti
05:27with meatballs and garlic bread.
05:29So I'm gonna start with the fettuccine alfredo.
05:34It's just pasta with cheese sauce, so what's there not to like?
05:37Then when you eat it with the chicken, let's try it.
05:42Pasta with chicken should not be a thing.
05:44I don't know why it's so popular here.
05:46If you go to Italy, you will never ever find chicken in a pasta or in a pizza.
05:52Like, that's just a crime.
05:54That's like a 2 out of 10 for me.
05:56For me, the pasta with chicken is like the worst combination I've ever had in my whole life.
06:01I'm so sorry for all the people that like it, but I just, I don't understand it.
06:05I'm having lots of anxiety because this squirrel right here has been staring at me for the
06:09past 20 minutes, and I feel like he's gonna ambush me and steal all my food.
06:14Are you gonna do that?
06:16Next, we're gonna try garlic bread.
06:20Yeah, this is a 10 out of 10.
06:22I love garlic bread.
06:23It's like the best invention ever, but you'll never find this in Italy as well.
06:27Okay, let's try the calamari with the dipping sauce.
06:30They're like really dark.
06:32I'm used to seeing them a very bright yellow color, so I think they have some spices on them.
06:40I love dipping sauces.
06:42I said it in my last video, dipping the calamari in the sauce adds that little something to it.
06:47But these calamari are like garbage, I'm sorry.
06:49It's like not crunchy at all, and I don't know if it's because it's freezing outside
06:52right now, but even the taste, I don't like it.
06:55Okay, next we're gonna do chicken parm, which is breaded chicken, tomato sauce, and mozzarella cheese.
07:03Oh my god.
07:04I remember at my workplace, some people would come in and order that chicken parmesan or
07:08like veal parmesan, which is the same thing but with veal, and I would be so jealous because
07:13it looked so good and I could never eat it because we weren't allowed to have that as
07:17a staff meal because they wouldn't charge us for meals.
07:20So usually we could choose between pastas or salads, and I've always wanted to try it
07:24and I tried it now and it's really, really good.
07:27I love it.
07:28And it's a 10 out of 10.
07:29Last thing is spaghetti with meatballs.
07:33That's a 9 out of 10.
07:35It's really good.
07:36It's really good.
07:43So I got my nails done, hoping that they would make me feel more confident, and instead I
07:47got a new insecurity that I didn't need.
07:49So this is the picture that I showed her, and these are the nails.
07:58They're actually pretty accurate.
08:00I would say like she did a pretty good job, but I just never realized how big my hands
08:05are.
08:06I thought they were gonna look all cute and dainty, but they just give me chicken feet
08:10vibes.
08:12Today we have to try Italian dressing and Italian wedding soup, so let's go buy the
08:16ingredients.
08:20For the soup I could just buy the canned one, but I feel like I'm not even giving it a chance
08:24if I buy this because I'm gonna hate it.
08:26So I'm gonna buy all the ingredients and make it myself.
08:36So I got my salad and the Italian dressing, and I was assuming that the Italian dressing
08:47was gonna be olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and maybe some like spices, but this thing
08:53is red.
08:54Let's read it.
08:55Water, canola oil, vinegar, salt, onion, red bell peppers, shallot, garlic.
09:02What?
09:03Yeah, this is not Italian.
09:05I have no idea why this is called Italian dressing because I can guarantee you nobody
09:09in Italy dresses their salads with this thing.
09:11Let's give it the benefit of the doubt and try it out because maybe it does taste good.
09:21Oh, that's a zero.
09:22Zero out of ten for me.
09:24I will never have this again.
09:26This tastes kind of like tomato, which doesn't make any sense because it doesn't have tomatoes
09:29in it.
09:30I think it's the red pepper.
09:32I also got some sour big chewy Nerds.
09:35So, let me talk to you about the biggest struggle of my life.
09:39I am the most indecisive person on earth.
09:43I literally can't make one decision to save my life.
09:46From the smallest things to the biggest things.
09:48Example, I have to buy a winter coat, and I've been trying to decide which color to
09:53get for like months, and I can't decide a color.
09:57And what usually happens is I finally decide on a color and on a style, I buy it, and then
10:02after a day, I'm like, no, I think I made the wrong choice.
10:05I don't like it.
10:06So, I go and return it and get myself a new one.
10:08And then the same exact thing happens.
10:10I don't like it either.
10:11But then I feel like I can't return it now because I already did one return.
10:14So, I'm going to keep it.
10:15And I will be unsatisfied with this coat that I spent a thousand dollars on for the
10:20next five years.
10:21This is what happened with my last coat, and this is what probably is going to happen with
10:24my next coat.
10:25Another stupid example, which is actually not stupid because I fear for my life when
10:29that happens, is I'll be driving, and there's a traffic light, and it goes yellow.
10:33And I'm going pretty fast, but I'm still far enough to do a safe stop.
10:37But I can't make a decision.
10:38So, I'm like, should I go or should I stop?
10:40Should I go or should I stop?
10:41And then last minute, right before the traffic light, I stop.
10:44And like, you can hear my brakes from outside.
10:46Like, they go like...
10:47This is to tell you that I can't make any decision for myself.
10:51I'm super indecisive, and I hate that about me.
10:53And now, I find myself having to make probably the biggest decision of my life.
10:59One of these decisions, as many of you guys ask, is am I going to move back to Italy or
11:03am I going to stay here?
11:04This is a really hard choice, besides a lot of people thinking that it's an obvious one.
11:09I feel like I'm constantly living in a limbo, like I'm dating two guys.
11:13That's what it feels like.
11:14I'm dating Italy and I'm dating Canada at the same time.
11:16And I can't choose between one of them because I love them both.
11:20And so when my ex-boyfriend and I broke up last month, it was a very black and white
11:25situation, and the decision was already made for me.
11:29I was going to move back to Italy.
11:31I literally told everyone in Italy that I was going to get my things, my rabbits, and
11:35move back.
11:36Like, right now, I should be back in Italy.
11:37And then I came back here, and it wasn't so black and white anymore.
11:41Even though I was so sure that it was the right thing to do, we saw each other again.
11:46The love was still there, and the attraction was still there.
11:49You can't imagine what happened.
11:50So now I'm even more confused because not only I don't know if I want to move back home
11:54or stay here, now I don't know if I want to get back together with my ex or just start
12:01over again.
12:02Nobody ever prepared me for how hard it is to end a long-term relationship.
12:06Me and him had been knowing for the past year that our relationship was not going anywhere,
12:12and we both knew that it was going to end.
12:15It was just a matter of when and how.
12:17And so we both had enough time to prepare ourselves for what was going to happen, and
12:22yet, when it happened, it was the most painful shit ever.
12:26My ex is really trying to fix things between us.
12:30Part of me is telling me I am never going to be able to recreate that bond that I have
12:34with my ex-boyfriend with someone else.
12:36Like, we are literally each other's best friends.
12:38What if I start dating someone new, and we spend like six months together, and then it
12:44turns out to be another waste of time?
12:46And then what if, after that, I date another guy for a few months, and it's another waste
12:50of time, and I can't find the right person for me, so I'm just going to die alone?
12:54And I'm thinking, what's the point of having learned so many lessons in the past five years
12:59and just start fresh and use all of these hard-learned lessons with somebody else when
13:04we can just use them with each other?
13:06Then the other part of me is telling me that I need to let go and that I will find someone
13:12that will never put himself in a position to lose me to begin with.
13:15And so yeah, the past month I've been spending going to therapy, just cutting off social
13:20media as much as I can, just trying to take the time and understand what the best decision
13:26for me is.
13:27But this month didn't accomplish anything.
13:29I don't know what I'm going to do with my life yet.
13:32Very big reason why I was dreading to film this video is because people were asking me
13:37about this situation, and I have to explain it to you.
13:41So I think the best thing from now on is to just film my YouTube videos and keep my dating
13:46life private.
13:47Relationships are super complicated, and having to read other people's opinions on the matter
13:53makes it even more messy and confusing for me.
13:56Anyways, let's go back to the apartment and cook the soup.
14:37Okay, let's try this.
14:59I have never had soup with spinach before.
15:02If I have to judge it by looks, it looks really good.
15:05I feel like the only reason why this is called Italian wedding soup is because it has meatballs
15:09in it.
15:10But I've never had anything like this in Italy before.
15:13Actually, I have in Moldova, where my grandma's from.
15:16So maybe I should call this Moldovan wedding.
15:22Mmm.
15:25That's really good.
15:27I claim this as Italian.
15:29Okay, I give this an 8 out of 10, just because I've had better soups in my life before,
15:34but this is really good.
15:36It's simple, but very flavorful.
15:39So how's my Italian wedding soup?
15:4110 out of 10.