Italian sport = Italian cuisine
In America, big sports games are met with big appetites. From burgers, fries and nachos to hot dogs carefully passed down the bleachers at major league baseball games. And of course, it’s all washed down with a six pack, or keg, of beer.
So in Italy, with such a reputation for fine food, do Italians maintain a sense of refinement, with glasses of red wine and tagliatelle while watching the big game? Of course not. Just like the rest of the world, soccer and beer go hand in hand. And as for the food, if there’s one food designed for enjoying with your friends in front of the TV while cheering on your team, it’s pizza.
But rather than order a couple of large take-out deep-pan pizzas and fight over who gets the biggest slice, Italians order one pizza per guest, with multiple varieties. These are the thin crust variety, making sure the food isn’t so heavy or filling that the desire for an afternoon nap overtakes the desire to cheer on their team. Guests can either fiercely guard their personal pizza, or share it around to try a slice of each variety. It’s all part of the shared experience of soccer.
So in Italy, with such a reputation for fine food, do Italians maintain a sense of refinement, with glasses of red wine and tagliatelle while watching the big game? Of course not. Just like the rest of the world, soccer and beer go hand in hand. And as for the food, if there’s one food designed for enjoying with your friends in front of the TV while cheering on your team, it’s pizza.
But rather than order a couple of large take-out deep-pan pizzas and fight over who gets the biggest slice, Italians order one pizza per guest, with multiple varieties. These are the thin crust variety, making sure the food isn’t so heavy or filling that the desire for an afternoon nap overtakes the desire to cheer on their team. Guests can either fiercely guard their personal pizza, or share it around to try a slice of each variety. It’s all part of the shared experience of soccer.