Unfortunately, along with addictive pasta, pesto, and Prosecco, some Italian restaurants
— knowingly or not — are perpetrating scams that can leave customers feeling fleeced
and frauded.
Their stomachs might be full, while their pockets are emptier than anticipated.
Here's what you should be on the lookout for.
When you go to an Italian restaurant, it's likely that the extra virgin olive oil you're
drizzling onto your food isn't virgin at all.
As The New York Times reports, most Italian olive oil flooding the world's market shelves,
quote, "is neither Italian nor virginal."
Instead, it's low quality, often from countries such as Syria, Turkey, Morocco, and Tunisia.
Sometimes, it's not olive oil at all but a mixture of various vegetable oils camouflaged
with artificial aromas and coloring such as chlorophyll and beta carotene.
According to an investigative report in Forbes, up to 80 percent of Italian olive oil on the
market is fake.
Chalk this high figure up to the Italian "Agromafia."
With counterfeit olive oil offering profit margins as high as 700 percent, organized
crime is moving away from cocaine into more lucrative and less risky "yellow gold."
While a restaurant may use a reputed Italian brand, many adulterated olive oils are sold
under quality brand names.
Even bottles stamped with Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) labels — which certify the
contents hail from a renowned Italian olive oil region where they were subject to controls
— can be subject to counterfeit.
Ultimately, Forbes concludes that unless a restaurant buys its olive oil directly from
a producer or a certified distributor, its "Italian extra virgin" is likely a phony.
It's hard to think about Italian food without conjuring up creamy, white mozzarella cheese
that's a key ingredient in many favorites.
Recognized as the finest mozzarella of them all, mozzarella di bufala commands high praise
(and prices) due its being made from the black-horned Asian water buffalo who arrived in Central
Italy's wet plains around 1000 AD.
Richer than cheese made from cow's milk, buffalo mozzarella possesses a delicate, faintly sour
taste and oozes a milky liquid when sliced.
Like many traditional Italian foods, mozzarella di bufala's origin and authenticity is guaranteed
by a Protected Designation of Origin label.
However, that doesn't stop counterfeit cheese from flooding the markets.
In 2010, the Italian government carried out a nation-wide analysis of the beloved national
cheese only to discover that 25 percent of samples contained cheaper, less rich cow milk.
Despite the scandal that ensued, fake buffalo mozzarella production has increased.
In 2019, Food Manufacture reported that spectrometry testing conducted in British restaurants revealed
that two-thirds of pizzas and other dishes — all supposedly prepared with mozzarella
di bufala — were made partly or entirely from cow's milk.
In the dairy industry, Parmigiano-Reggiano is known as "The King of Cheeses."
But according to a Forbes article by Larry Olmstead, author of Real Food, Fake Food,
most people will never get to taste it — even if they think they are.
The American translation of Parmigiano-Reggiano is parmesan.
However, most parmesans are a far cry from the official PDO cheese consisting of three
ingredients: milk (produced in Italy's Parma-Reggio region), salt, and rennet, a natural enzyme
from calf's intestines.
As Olmstead points out, the majority of "parmesans" available in the U.S. aren't made in Parma
(or Italy) at all but in America, where the term "Parmesan Cheese" can be used as a generic
label for any hard Italian-style grating cheese.
Consequently, it isn't a legal crime for an Italian restaurant to serve you parmesan posing
as Parmigiano.
However, it can be considered a culinary crime since the fake parm will likely be lacking
in the distinctive umami kick that adds a flavor upgrade to so many dishes.
Truffles have ranked among the world's most treasured delicacies since Amorite kings were
recorded craving them 4,000 years ago.
Italian white truffles are the most prized due to their distinctive nutty taste and fragrant
aroma, and that they can only be found in winter by dogs, since pigs also succumb to
truffle cravings.
Like many coveted luxury items — a white truffle can cost between $2,700 and $6,800
per kilogram — there is a massive black market for them.
According to The Truffle Underground author Ryan Jacobs, roughly 75 percent of white Piedmont
truffles don't originate in Piedmont or even Italy.
The problem with truffles is that it's easy to be fooled by fake fungi.
Unlike other famously falsified Italian foods, truffles aren't subjected to the same controls
and don't carry official stamps or labels.
Without an expert nose, the only way to distinguish a real white truffle from a fake is with a
microscope or genetic analysis.
As a result, according to Jacobs, many Italian restaurants, even sophisticated ones with
stellar reputations, end up serving cheap Tunisian fungus instead of the original.
When you're streaming your favorite food show, it's hard not to get excited by the ingenious
things that top chefs can whip up with leftovers.
However, such enthusiasm wilts when the leftovers in question are stealthily injected into the
pricy entrée you ordered at an Italian restaurant.
If there were Ten Commandments of Italian cooking, Commandment Number One would be the
use of high-quality fresh ingredients.
Seeing as most Italian ingredients are simple and inexpensive — tomatoes, basil, garlic
— it should be the easiest commandment to comply with.
Unfortunately, according to a panel of chefs who talked to Insider, some restaurants can't
resist the lure of leftovers.
It turns out that dishes like stuffed pasta shells are an ideal vessel for hiding fillings
made from unused ingredients.
If the shells are "on special," it's a giveaway that they're probably not so special at all,
at least in terms of freshness.
Equally suspect are meatballs, particularly if camouflaged by spaghetti.
Not only are meatballs magnets for leftovers, but according to chef Max Hardy, they're usually
made ahead of time and aren't always fresh.
For purists, it's actually somewhat of a scam for an authentic Italian restaurant to be
serving spaghetti and meatballs in the first place since the dish doesn't even exist in
Italy.
"And, for you sir?"
"I will have the gabagool."
"What?"
"The gabagool."
Another favorite at any Italian restaurant, pizza Margherita, does indeed have Italian
roots.
According to legend, it was subsequently named after Queen Margherita when she asked a chef
to make her some unpretentious, local fare.
The tri-color pizza went on to become an edible Italian icon, but that doesn't mean you should
automatically order one.
When Insider asked a panel of chefs to list the worst things to order at an Italian restaurant,
Julia Helton, the former executive chef of an Italian restaurant, confessed that it's
precisely the Margherita's simplicity that makes it one of the most overpriced items
on any restaurant menu.
As Helton sees it, being charged double digits for some dough topped with a bit of tomato
sauce, a quarter log of mozzarella, and a few basil leaves is a "total rip-off."
"This is so good!"
"Best pizza ever!"
As FSR reports, the potato dumpling is becoming increasingly popular in the U.S.
Yet, its relative unusualness, coupled with the time and dexterity required to make gnocchi,
seemingly allows some restaurants to feel justified in charging elevated prices or serving
pre-packaged varieties.
Even when gnocchi is freshly made, because it's a heavier, more filling dish, some restaurants
see it as an inexpensive antidote to more pricey, protein-packed options.
As Don Odiorne, vice president of food service for the Idaho Potato Commision tells FSR,
chefs have increasingly turned to potato gnocchi as a way to offset elevated meat prices.
Inverting the old meat-and-potatoes formula, many restaurants are increasingly offering
more affordable (for them) potato gnocchi with a small portion of meat on the side.
After a rich Italian restaurant meal, who doesn't have the urge to scream for a palate-cleansing
gelato?
If you knew how much your gelato is marked up, you'd scream even louder.
As The New York Times asked, is there a good reason why ice cream — whose inexpensive
foundations are milk, sugar, and eggs — costs more than prime ribeye steak?
A popular justification for expensive gelatos is that they're "artisanal."
However, the term's meaning is vague.
Adding water to a dry mix may be considered "artisanal" gelato.
In theory, what distinguishes gelato from ice cream is that it contains less air, which
translates into intense flavors, dense textures — and higher prices.
However, as The Times points out, the cost of ingredients and the amount of air in a
gelato contribute little to its overall price.
When Conde Nast Traveler asked Italian food experts to provide tips on spotting iffy gelato,
the experts said to look at the color.
Bright green pistachio and lipstick-red strawberry scream of artificial coloring and possibly
flavoring, while natural ingredients yield more muted and earthy colors.
According to the experts, banana is the litmus test flavor — the real artisanal deal should
skew more elephant grey than canary yellow.
Italy is as justly famous for its wines as it is for its food.
As satisfying as a glass of Chianti or plate of ravioli are on their own, to paraphrase
Aristotle, the whole meal is greater than the sum of its parts.
The problem stems from the final bill — whose sum, as Insider warns, is sure to be mildly-to-outrageously
inflated by the wine markup, especially if you opt for a glass instead of a bottle, which
gives you comparatively more buzz for your buck.
Italian restaurants claim charging high prices for wine allows them to reduce prices for
food.
They also argue that selecting, suggesting, pairing, opening, and serving wine all add
value to the drinking experience.
Yet as Newsweek points out, diners generally fork out between two to four times more for
a bottle than the price they'd pay at a liquor store.
And unlike preparing food from scratch, all that's required of bottled wine is to open
and serve it.
Yet knowing how much we want wine with our pasta, restaurateurs also know we'll pay (dearly)
for the privilege.
There's good news, though: recently, scam salvation has arrived in the form of apps
that allow diners to swipe and see exactly how much they're being stiffed on any given
bottle.
"Chalmers Reserve is 72 percent golden grain alcohol."
"After the first sip, guests will be like, 'This can't be right?!'"
Aside from language, many Italian restaurants rely on subtle aesthetic and decorative strategies
to up their Italian cred in diners' minds.
The most obvious and widespread tactic is the use of the national colors of red, white,
and green in everything from signs and logos to menus and decor.
As French philosopher Roland Barthes pointed out in Image, Music, Text, using the colors
of the Italian flag is a basic strategy that communicates the fact that the restaurant
is, indeed, Italian.
According to the National Restaurant Association findings, a majority of American consumers
love Italian food for its down-to-earth "simplicity" and Old World "rusticity."
To feed customers' fantasies (and potentially pad their bottom line), many restaurants comply
with these expectations in myriad ways.
They decorate restaurant walls with antique, black-and-white or sepia-toned photos of the
Old Country, suggesting to customers that food is made according to traditional family
recipes passed on through generations.
Exposed brick, unvarnished wood, and wood-burning stoves — as well as candles or dim lamps
— conjure up country farmhouses and old-fashioned family kitchens.
Images or even live displays of fresh vegetables — plump red tomatoes, white garlic, green
herbs — further underscore Italianicity while communicating to diners that the restaurant
uses only fresh, high-quality Italian ingredients.
Immersed in so much carefully curated Italianness, you'll be primed to enjoy — and pay for
— your "authentic" meal.
You might think it's a good idea to order a simple pasta dish at an Italian restaurant.
In terms of taste satisfaction, this might be true.
However, in terms of economics, it's a bust.
Business Insider concedes that spaghetti with fresh tomato sauce might hit the spot, but
argues you'd be a fool to pay a huge percent markup for a dish that even the most challenged
cook can easily and inexpensively make at home.
The same goes for some different types of pasta, like pasta with black pepper and pecorino
cheese.
As chef Linda Harrell confesses to Insider, in Italy the no-nonsense dish is a go-to if
you lack time or ingredients to make a real meal.
Unworthy of being served in a restaurant, she recommends American diners skip it since
it isn't worth the money.
Check out one of our newest videos right here!
Plus, even more Mashed videos about your favorite restaurants are coming soon.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel and hit the bell so you don't miss a single one.