Italy and America endorse disparate lifestyles, which is reflected in everything including their diets
My friends and I at Sava's in Ann Arbor! Going out to eat is the best time to socialize, particularly in college! I remember my friend saying that she goes out to eat so much because it's the only time she has to hang out with people and she has to eat anyways. That, ladies and gentlemen, is college efficiency at its finest.
America
Being able to eat any type of cuisine you want, especially when going out to eat
America gets slack for "americanizing" ethnic dishes, and sometimes it does cross boundaries. But without it we wouldn't have things like queso, garlic bread and fortune cookies. None of these things can be found outside of the states
Much more accommodating to food restrictions (gluten allergies and vegan diets)
You can find whatever you want at the supermarkets anytime of the year
Thanksgiving! #awesome and I missed it greatly
I didn't think college Thanksgivings were going to be that impressive, considering most people either live in dorms or still barely know how to turn the burner on, but I was wrong! Plus the dining hall does a good job trying to make itself more homey.
My mom's side has this tradition during Christmastime called "Cookie Day." Each family (there are like 13) bakes 13 dozen cookies, each family does a different type, and then we get together to exchange them and bake more. While this is happening, kids get to decorate other cookies. We also order pizza for lunch. It's quite an ordeal.
Italy
It's all about the QUALITY of ingredients, not the quantity! I can't stress this enough. For how delicious everything they make is, the ingredient list is never that complicated
Everyone shops at small markets and much more regularly, like sometimes every day for whatever they need
What you can buy depends upon the season because Italians don't ship in food like we do. They prefer only to eat things that are grown locally
Meals are much more structured with several courses. First, there is the apertivio: including small things like olives and cheese. After that is the antipasti, which might be meats and cheeses or bruschetta and and crostini. Then comes pasta, risotto or soup. This course is called the primi. Then, there's secondi, where you finally have the meat portions. After that is contorni, which consists of vegetables. Finally, they have dolci with an espresso shot and digestivi. Digestives are basically jus alcoholic shots that they swear help your digestion
When you go out to eat waiters don't bother you as much as they do in the states because they are giving you space and time to enjoy your meal
You don't have to tip and eating out in general is typically cheaper (even after taking into account that the Euro is worth more than the dollar)
The Slow Food movement started in Italy. If you don't know what that is, check it out! https://www.slowfood.com/
A beautiful restaurant we reached through winding roads that suddenly opened up into a valley. Everyone you see in the photo is part of my host family. This meal lasted somewhere around 4-5 hours, but that's nothing compared to what the week of Christmas was like. Thanksgiving pales in comparison to how much Italians eat during that week. There's a several-hour-long meal everyday at someone or other's house.
This is the view from the outside of that same restaurant. You see, for Italians half of the meal is the atmosphere: it's the relaxed mode in which you savor every bite, the loving people crammed around the crooked table with you and the fresh breeze blowing in through the beads Italians hang in their doorways to keep out the bugs (not many people have screens in the country).