When one mentions Italian cooking to most foreigners they almost automatically think of pizza and spaghetti. This is a sad oversimplification, because Italian cooking is as diversified as it is delicious.

    The centuries during which Italy was a collection of separate kingdoms, duchies, and republics has given the modern Italians a cuisine with as many subtle variations as their language. Pizza, for example, is a south Italian regional dish that was once served because it combined all the virtues a thrifty cook looks for - it was inexpensive, simple to make, nourishing, and tasty.

    The popularity of pizza as a meal or a snack in America is probably greater than in Italy where it is safe to guess that many people have never even tasted one of their best-known exports.

    如果有人對外國人提起意大利烹飪，大部分人總是想到意大利餡餅和意大利細面條。這是一種可悲的過分簡單的想法，因為意大利飯菜不僅美味可口，而且豐富多彩。

    幾個世紀以來，意大利經歷了獨立的王國、公爵領地以及共和國等許多時期，這使得當代意大利人的食譜猶如他們的語言一樣絢麗多姿。例如，餡餅(Pizza)是意大利南部的一種地方食品，它集中了勤儉廚師所追求的一切優點--價格不貴，制作方便，營養豐富，而且美味可口。

    在美國,Pizza被當成主食或零食。而且美國人比意大利人更喜歡Pizza。你可以這么認為意大利人甚至從未嘗過他們那早已流傳在外國的餡餅。