Need Italian Help!
 

We are leaving in Mid-Sept. and my son is a picky eater. How do I ask for "Noodles with butter and parmesan cheese only. No Sauce." ?? Thanks!!

Do a search-I think someone answered this question recently...

"Tagliatelle con di parmigiano e del burro soltanto. Nessuna Salsa."

That may be close.

Some people will Post advising you to get your kid to experiment but we had our 6-year old and she ate pasta with tomato sauce exclusively - it was different at every restaurant and delicious every time.

Fettuccine Alfredo - that's the authentic recipe.

http://www.cookingtheromanway.com/recipe.htm

"Pasta, burro e parmigiano"

your waiter will ask you, at this point, what kind of pasta you prefer : spaghetti, fetticcine, tagliatelle , linguine, maccheroni, penne etc.

PS : fettuccine alfredo or spaghetti with meatballs are not italian food at all.

an oldie: http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...mp;tid=1276059

We order penne al burro for our children, it is penne pasta,(easier for kids to handle than spaghetti or tagliatelli) And I've never been to an Italian restaurant that didn't bring the parmesan cheese bowl to the table when a pasta plate was ordered!! Add what you want. Sometimes the butter comes in a seperate bowl to add yourself. If he is a light eater, you may want a mezzo porzione. (1/2 portion)

In Pienza, the waitress called it "Pasta Bianco," which was just with butter and cheese.

just say, as another poster replied, pasta al burro e parmigiana-- not fettuccine alfredo which is not what your child means by pasta with butter and grated cheese.

okay, I will be one of those who says...have your son try different foods, but here's why.... Recently I was on tour, there was a woman who was traveling with her 8 year old daughter, there were from Australia, so they had been traveling for the previous 3 weeks. The woman was telling me how her daughter at the beginning of their trip was being very picky about the food and turned her nose up at several things. Eventually, her daughter got hungrier (no, she didn't let her starve!), so she dug in and tried a bit of this and a bit of that, and guess what? She found new favorites!!

Obviously, you son may be different and might choose to starve to death instead of trying something different, but traveling is all about experiencing different cultures, so if I were you, I'd have him at least try other things.

"In Pienza, the waitress called it "Pasta Bianco," which was just with butter and cheese."

Actually that'll be "pasta in bianco" :)

Anyway I agree with lyb; I'm 17 and I was overly picky about food until about last year - then I went to Australia for 2 months as an exchange student and voilà! Now I'll eat anything, from oysters to octopus to all kinds of veggies, you name it...I suddenly realized what I had been missing all these years...
So you see, in my case a bit of 'courage' made all the difference! :)

Federico
Venice

Thanks for your responses and ideas. He has promised me that he will "try", I just wanted to make sure I could order noodles and butter as a back-up!!

WendyLee,

How old is your son? Though I advocated having try something else, I know it can be easier said than done. :)

Good luck.

LeCanard has it right.

Thank heavens someones knows that Fettucine Alfredo is not an Italian dish. You certainly can get pasta con crema e parmigiano but they just do not call it Alfredo. Italians eat their meatballs (polpete) seprately from their pasta. Pasta al burro is what you want. Your wee angle can sprinkle his own cheese.

Francis Ford Coppola once remarked that his favourite Italian "snack" was "pasta al burro". Until the age of 13 it was my hands down favorite meal. At the age of 11 I was taken by an uncle to a renowned restaurant overlooking the Bay of Naples. It was my mom's first time "back" in 20 years and they proceeded to order every seafood dish imaginable. When the waiter asked what I'd like, I replied: "Pasta al burro". The place --- packed with raucious families --- went silent but the waiter wasn't fazed at all. My extended (Italian) family then proceeded to tease me incessantly --- but I got my dish and it was perfect.

A few years later I returned and had spagetti vongole and my life changed forever. Pasta al burro has since been relegated to favorite Italian "snack".

Have him try pasta Alio e' Olio.....it is pasta lightly (I mean lightly) sauteed with extra virgin olive oil and garlic. It is wonderful. You will not have a problem finding that on the menu, and then you can always add parmesan. The Italians know the art of making Alio e' Olio.

Lizzie518 -- Without sounding like our favorite whipping food critic, one shoud never put cheese on alio e olio. A few toasted bread crumbs or some fresh cracked pepper black or red is great, even for a young'un.
Buon appetito!
P.S - there is no parmesan in Italy, only in the US or other foreign nations. As mario states it is parmigiano-reggiano "the undisputed king of cheeses".

Whew. Tough critics. I only suggested adding the parmesan because it was to suit the tastes of a child, and the original poster had mentioned the use of parmesan. I also realize that the "real cheese" is parmigiano reggiano, but I was once again tailoring my comments for the original post.

Thanks for keeping me on my toes.

As long as everybody is nit-picking, I might as well join in. Traditionally, aglio e olio also includes hot pepper flakes (maybe a problem for picky-eater child?) and parsley.

As for fettucine Alfredo, there's an infamous feud between two Rome restaurants, each of which claims to be the originator of the dish.

Lizzie -- In reality the cheese doesn't blend well wit the olive oil, it does blend with butter. In Italy the use of breadcrumbs as an embelishment is fairly wide.
I dont want to be confused with NYCFS, altho I love her attitude.