How To Eat Spaghetti Like Italians Do

If you've ever been to Italy, dined with an Italian famiglia, or even watched shows like "My Brilliant Friend" or "Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy," you may have noticed the Italian's effortless and elegant way of eating spaghetti. The way they can perfectly twirl pasta around the tines of their fork so that every strand is tucked neatly in a little package before popping it in their mouths is impressive for those of us who grew up stabbing and pulling those stubborn noodles from their tangled pile covered in marinara.

Eating spaghetti like Italians do isn't complicated, but it takes some practice. Spear a few strands of pasta at an angle on your fork and twirl against the side of the bowl so the pasta wraps around the tines. Once all the strands are mostly wrapped neatly on your fork, bring it to your mouth. It's okay if you have a strand or two still slightly dangling, but you don't want it hanging way down off your fork. This is how you get sauce on your chin and clothes. There is some debate on whether using a spoon to help you twirl your spaghetti is an "Italian" thing to do, with some agreeing it looks more elegant. But, if you only use a fork without the aid of a spoon, no one in Italy is going to accuse you of being a barbarian.

Now, I'm hardly one to tell you that eating pasta a certain way is "bad." Really, just eat the way that is comfortable for you (and hopefully not offensive to others, i.e., close your mouth when you chew, please). However, you generally won't see Italians cutting their spaghetti into smaller pieces, extending a fork full of dangling pasta up in the air and eating it from the bottom up, or noisily slurping up the strands. And if you do these things, expect at least a few stares from the Italian experts.

Once you get the twirling down, you might want to go all in on eating pasta like an Italian. Good for you. Keep in mind that your bowl of spaghetti will probably look a lot different than what you're used to in America. For starters, you'll be served about two to three and a half ounces of pasta in Italy, which is about a cup. Try finding that at the Cheesecake Factory or any Italian restaurant in America, for that matter. In a nutshell, portion sizes in Italy are substantially smaller than those in the United States. This is partly due to the fact that during formal Italian meals, pasta is only part of the meal, which begins with an antipasto, followed by a dish of pasta or soup, and then a protein and vegetable side dish.

Here in America, we love and have come to expect an endless bowl of bread to come with our pasta (often in endless form itself). This isn't the case in Italy. If you're served bread at all, it's usually just a bit so that you can scrape up any remaining sauce left behind, also known as "fare la scarpetta." In Italy, pasta and sauce pairings are intentional; some sauces simply pair better with certain pasta. Long, thin strands of spaghetti work best with lighter sauces or olive oil-based coatings. Of course, it also tastes great with the best store-bought sauce you can find. Thicker pasta, like pappardelle, on the other hand, hold on to chunkier sauces better, like bolognese.

One thing we Americans and Italians have in common when it comes to pasta is that we love it, regardless of how we eat it. But there's something about that perfect twirl that makes eating it even better.