You better not eat this in Italy

Even in the country with the best cuisine in the world, there are things you better not eat because they simply aren't tasty. I must say it took quite a while for this list to become viable. Because let's be honest, there aren't many disgusting things. Just don't eat these things. Or eat them somewhere else. But not in Italy.

Sushi
Although Italians love sushi and there are indeed places where it's decent, eating sushi in Italy is not the best plan ever. There is one ingredient that Italians strangely associate with sushi: cream cheese. Cream cheese is added to (or on) every maki, nigiri, or inside-out roll. And to make matters worse, something like strawberries or mango is also included. And just in combination with salmon, tuna, avocado, or cucumber. Yuck.

Bruschetta with tomato
This depends on where you eat them, of course, but I find our ‘Dutchified’ version of bruschetta much tastier than what you get in Italy. In the Netherlands, bruschettas often have something with garlic, fresh basil, olive oil, and salt. In Italy, bruschettas are made with toasted old bread (sometimes not even toasted) with tomato and, for the lucky ones, a bit of olive oil. Sometimes you even get a whole tomato with a knife and some bread. The essence of Italian bruschetta with tomato is as simple as possible, but it can be tastier.

Bread
Focaccia is fantastic, and at bakeries in Italy, you can buy bread of ‘okay’ quality, but you can't easily get really good bread in Italy. Or maybe bread is just a whole different ball game in Italy than in the Netherlands. The shelf life is much shorter, which can say something about the purity of the ingredients, but it makes the bread tasteless, hard to slice, and really tough after two days.

Fries
In the Netherlands, we are quite spoiled when it comes to fries. Because crispy, golden, salty, well-fried fries are not easily found in Italy. Usually, they are quite limp and tasteless. Mayonnaise and ketchup are not standard. Patate al forno, or oven-baked potatoes, provide more satisfaction in a restaurant than fries.

Salads
Salads are mainly uninteresting in Italy; they usually consist of some lettuce leaves, tomato, and some grated carrot. Then you get to finish it off with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt. If you're lucky, you might find some mozzarella or a stray corn kernel in there, but that's about it.

Butter
The inattentive butter user might not immediately notice that the butter is a lot less tasty in Italy than in the Netherlands (or France, of course), but it is true. Butter is hardly used in Italian cuisine, so it could well be that the priorities lay elsewhere. The ‘standard’ Italian butter is quite crumbly and hard. And tasteless.