Ciao a tutti! Welcome back to my blog on everything Italian. Today, we splurge yet again into Italian food. But this time, we will investigate a few dishes on the menu. You may be wondering why I am spending two blogs discussing food while various other topics can be explored. I’ll put it to you this way: food is a significant part of Italian culture, and it is as diverse as the student body of Penn State. If I did not cause you to salivate at least once in a blog about Italy, I would be referred to as an im-pasta. Speaking of which, let’s fork into one of my favorite pasta dishes: pasta carbonara.

I mean, just reading that name makes you feel more Italian. If you are an Olive Garden enthusiast, you may be wondering where the Fettuccini Alfredo is (c’mon, you really thought I would do you a disservice like that?). On this blog, we discuss real pasta. Now back to carbonara. For the pasta, this dish is traditionally served with long pasta, like spaghetti, linguine, or tonnarelli. As an Italian, however, one must dress the pasta with some sauce, otherwise sacrilege! Carbonara “sauce” is relatively simple, as it consists of guanciale (Italian bacon), egg yolks, salt, and pepper. One cuts and sautés the guanciale while boiling the pasta. It is essential that your spaghetti is al dente, a term describing a soft, slightly wet consistency that is ideal for serving. When those ingredients finish cooking, the final step entails beating the egg yolks, adding the salt and pepper, and pouring the mixture over the hot pasta and guanciale. Finally, garnish the meal with some grated cheese, and you have a masterpiece.

Pasta carbonara is a nationally adored staple of Italian cuisine. But if we were going to be basic, you would be reading this post fusilli reasons. Let’s instead grill up two quirky dishes: stufato di trippa and stigghiola. Stufato di trippa translates to tripe stew in English. Tripe may also sound like another language to you, as it is not commonly consumed in America. This eccentric cut of meat is part of a cow’s second stomach! If that doesn’t gross you out, its fecal matter-laced aroma certainly will. Despite its nasty description, however, tripe makes a killer stew. In rural towns, farmers sell the meat fresh, and Nonna’s to-die-for tomato broth combines with passion to form a culinary masterpiece. Who wouldn’t want that! Personally, I had my worries about this one. But let me tell you, do not let the tripe fool you—it is not nearly as disgusting as it sounds.

And to further the topic of odd Italian foods, prepare to stomach the stigghiola, one of my favorite Sicilian street foods. This is like nothing you will ever see: the stigghiola consists of chopped onions and parsley, wrapped in lamb intestines. Yup, you read it right. You are probably shocked right now, but trust me, eating intestines is normal. As a matter of fact, natural sausage casing is made from pork intestines. If you are still grossed out, think about eating hot dogs (which is something you may have done without cringing at all). Now you can realize that eating a stigghiola isn’t that bad. I’m running out of time, so I’ll leave you with this: Italian food, although partially familiarized to Americans, is truly diverse and holds more secrets than meets the eye.

Resources:

Gaia Masiero Contributor February 15, et al. “Classic Carbonara Recipe.” La Cucina Italiana, 15 Feb. 2022, https://www.lacucinaitaliana.com/italian-food/how-to-cook/how-to-make-original-carbonara?refresh_ce=.