Are you Looking for "Italian Food near me"?
The best restaurant is your Kitchen!

Are you looking for "Italian Food Near Me?" - Why don't you try our easy and quick Italian Recipes?

• Pasta with Pesto Sauce
• Pasta alla Norma
• Tuscan Pici pasta
• Lasagna

Are you craving Italian Food? Do you want somethingready-to-eat? Maybe something yummy? Why don't you try to prepare your Italian Dinner by yourself! We know, you are thinking that it will certainly be too difficult, too expensive or with too hard to find ingredients.

Well, it's not like this! I mean, some dishes are of course a bit more difficult, or it takes a bit of time to prepare them and, in fact we prepare them just on special occasion: even in Italy, it's pretty hard to find a working Mum preparing a Lasagna for her kids on a Wednesday afternoon.

The basic preparation of Mediterranean Diet are instead rather easy: just think about the Pasta . The only things you need to do are switch on the stove, fill the pan with water, wait for it to boil and add the pasta. If you are in a rush, you can season your Pasta with a high-quality tomato sauce in jar. The result is an Italian Pasta, yummy and easy - it takes less than 20 mins to prepare it (the most of which you just have to wait, so you can actually do something else in the meanwhile).



The same thing applies to meat and fish: Italian Kitchen tends to prefer easy preparations, without dressing or deep-frying. At the same time, most of the dishes are suitable for make-ahead preparation or for freezing.

What about the money? Actually, if you’re creating meals out of beans or lentils as your main source of protein, and sticking with mostly plants and whole grains, then the Mediterranean diet is less expensive than serving dishes of packaged or processed foods. Fish and meat are a bit expensive , that's true, but we do not eat them often - especially red meat.

Mediterranean Diet is usually a lifestyle that can be easily adapted to your taste, if you carefully follow its "pillars":

• Eat fresh fruit and vegetables, in season.
• Do not skip meals: have breakfast, lunch and dinner.
• Eat seafood twice a week.
• Use Olive Oil instead of Butter.
• Cooked meals should be uncomplicated: grilled, roasted, steamed, baked.

If you are not persuaded yet, you maybe want to know why Mediterranean Kitchen is recommended by lot of Nutritionists and Phisicians.

First of all, let's clarify a point: the Mediterranean Diet is not a Diet ! Its purpose is not make you lose fat, on the contrary you could end up eating more food than the usual: what matters, indeed, is the quality.

So, the Mediterranean Diet is a "way of eating" based on the traditional foods and drinks of the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea, such as Spain, Greece, Italy. It has been studied by different scientists as one of the healthiest diet of the world, to the point of being recognized by the UNESCO as a Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The Mediterranean Diet varies from country to country - sometimes, even from region to region - but its main characteristics are always the same: a high consumption of fruit, vegetables and cereals (our beloved Pasta!) and a low intake of processed food or saturated fats. And, the healthier seasoning of the world: Olive Oil, which is used in place of Butter or other fatty seasoning.



The principle of the Mediterranean Diet are sometimes represented as a Pyramid: the higher you get, the less often you should have those foods. The benefits? It has been showed to reduce your risk of serious mental and physical health problems such as hearth diseases, Alzhaimer and Parkinson, and it helps longevity as well: it's not by chance that Mediterranean Countries are among the countries with the highest life expectancy!

As we have already told, Mediterranean Diet is not the same in every Mediterranean Country. Are you curious to discover how it is in Italy? Ok, first of all, forget Alfredo Sauce and Spaghetti with Meatballs: if you were to ask, probably only Italians who have often been abroad know what Pasta Alfredo is (and still, they probably refused to try it). Second of all: Italians do not eat just one dish.

A traditional Italian meal is composed by an Appetizer, a "Primo" (usually pasta, but also risotto or polenta), then a "Secondo" (meat, fish or eggs) with a "Contorno" (a side dish), without forgetting a seasonal fruit at the end - and sometimes a small dessert, too. Does it seems a lot, right?

Nevertheless, Italy’s obesity rate is one of the lowest in Western Europe. Also, to tell the truth this is the lunch or dinner we have at the restaurant, on Sundays or on special occasion - when meals could even be bigger.

On "normal" days we usually have a Pasta for lunch, maybe some vegetables - and we normally have the "Secondo" with vegetables for dinner. Fruits is unmissable - also for breakfast or as snacks.

Talking about snacks: it would not be true to say that we always have healthy snacks. Children tend to have more prepackaged snacks than we had in the past, but their mothers and grannies offer them also alternatives such as home-made cakes, sandwiches and fresh fruits - and they love them! The secret is, again, vary: a chocolate snacks never killed nobody, eating them everyday will neither kill you, but will certainly make you fat.

The same thing happens with fast-food: McDonald's and Burger King are now common in Italy - even in small cities - and we sometimes go there for lunch or dinner, but it is the exception and not the rule!

There's another "non culinary" secret we have to unveil: Italians do not rush when eating. We do not have dinner on the sofa or in front of the Television. We sit down to the table and take our time.

Over the last years, our habits lunch habits have changed: children often have lunch at school and sometimes adults eat at the workplace. Yet, even if we are not at home, we gather with our colleagues in the cafeteria and spend the break together. Or we have our lunchbox in Office and then stroll to the closer cafe for a good Coffee (the unmissable end of every Italian lunch). Unless we are in very critical situation, we do not have lunch while working in front of our PC or while rushing from a place to another.

For the most of us, Dinner is the moment when the family gathers. We sit down to table, switch off the smartphones and the TV and tell each other about our days. It's pretty common to sit to the table for a longer time than the actual "eating time". In summer, it's even more common to have a "passeggiata", a leisurely stroll through town: a nice way to burn off the dinner (even if it usually ends up with a good ice-cream) while enjoying the chill - summer here can be really hot!

Eating with friends is also a great part of our Culture: be it at home or at the restaurant, it's normal to have dinner dates, especially during the weekend. We normally meet for an "aperitivo", then have dinner and then move to a cafe or to a Pub - or, to the club if you are a Party-animal.

On Sundays or working holidays it's normal for Italian Families to gather at their Grandparents' (or Aunts' or Mothers'...) with lot of relatives: parents, sisters and brothers, aunts and uncles... different generations eating together, talking and keeping alive a cherished tradition. Ask an Italian what their best children memories are and you'll find out the importance of Family Lunch in our culture.

Food is more than just eating, it's a moment of love and happiness and, as so, it has to be shared.

We are a team of food lovers with an experienced palate, on the continuous hunt for Authentic Italian Food Delicacies. Each Month we select the best products, handpack them carefully in Italy and send our EatTiamo Boxes directly to your doorstep, with all the steps to cook a perfect full dinner for 4 people.