What exactly is 'authentic' Italian food? It may be hard to define, but Italians know it when the taste it. To try to get to the bottom of this elusive question, I have written a three part series on the subject featured on my blog, Memorie di Angelina:

Part I: The Varieties of Italian Cooking

This article walks you through the principal types of Italian cooking you are likely to encounter from true Italian food, the kind they make in Italy, to Italian Diaspora cooking, which at its best has an authenticity all its own, to the more dubious 'Italian-style' cooking and just plain bad imitations. 

To read the article, click here. 

Part II: Learning to Tell Real Italian Food from Fake

This article gives you some pointers on where to go to learn about authentic Italian food, from the best books and online sources to TV shows, and lists some of the most common tell-tales signs of fakery. 

To read the article, click here.

Part III: Learning to Cook Authentic Italian Food at Home

This posts gives you the skinny on how to recreate authentic Italian dishes at home. It's much easier than you think, so long as you keep some basic pointers in mind. The post runs down how to choose and work with ingredients for authentic Italian flavors, and how to develop authentic Italian cooking techniques. To get the most out of this post, read it in conjunction with articles on The Italian Pantry and Italian Food Culture.

To read the article, click here. 

Once you've been through these article, I can guarantee that you will have a very good idea of what it takes to cook and eat Italian food—the way it was meant to be enjoyed. 

Buon appetito and happy cooking!