Italian cuisine has one unique characteristic, one standout fact, and that is... keep it simple.

This is Italian pizza.

Tomatoes, mozzarella cheese (not much either) and some basil leaves.

No matter what you add it doesn't fit into the Italian cooking philosophy.

Neither simple nor poor (despite being born of frugality and scarcity).

Don't put too much into the dish, and don't put too much.

Another example? Pasta? Sure.

It usually takes no longer to make the sauce than it takes to boil the pasta (remember, al dente).

Italians whip up a delicious meal in a quarter of an hour! Fish and meat? Again, easy.

Let the meat or fish be the star of the meal.

Don’t bury it in the sauce, don’t hide it behind piles of other ingredients.

This is grilled swordfish.

Sprinkle with oregano, olive oil and lemon juice.

The holy trinity of grilled fish.

Let me give you another example, a comparative example.

Where simplicity trumps overloading.

Sandwich: pane cunsato: real bread, olive oil, tomatoes, oregano and cheese.

Delicious, filling, satisfying fake bread, pork, maybe beef, fake lettuce, fake cheese, fake tomatoes, pickles (yummy) and sugary sauces (ketchup, BBQ, etc.).

Fill and kill.

To understand the differences in regional cuisines in Italy, here is a video of seafood pasta shot in Livorno (Livorno) from several Youtuber chefs, one from Milan (the fat one) and one from Livorno (

The one with the beard).

There are English subtitles... I tried this recipe and it worked great... it's not traditional, but it's made in the traditional way! Italian food is highly regional.

A dish that is commonly served in one region may not even be known in another.

But overall, people tend to use fewer ingredients and use higher-quality ingredients that can be sourced locally.

The dishes are simple, unpretentious, but seasonal and regional.

Butter and meat in the north, olive oil and vegetables in the south.

Coastal seafood.

Italian food in Italy bears little resemblance to Italian food in other countries.

Well, there are differences between different regions.

I would say that usually in northern Italy butter and olive oil are used together, whereas in the south with "real" Mediterranean cuisine more people use just olive oil, with lots of fresh vegetables.

I wouldn’t say there’s more meat in the north than elsewhere, not Veneto.

There's a lot of meat in Tuscan cuisine.

What unifies all cuisines is an insistence on high-quality food: fresh vegetables, simply prepared, not overdone like in the United States.

Sure, some preparations are complicated, but a healthy balance of ingredients is always maintained.

It’s not a heavy sauce-heavy dish.