I'm Italian (now in the US), and I had some friends come visit in Italy a while ago, and went out to lunch with some of my family. One of my friends ordered a cappuccino mid-lunch and my family almost passed out :)
I spent some time in Sicily and one of the things I discovered was I could not get pizza for lunch,only dinner. I thought it was just one restaurant being obstinate but town after it was the same response.
And to this American who enjoyed a slice between classes I could not understand why. I concluded it was too hot and no one wanted to turn up the pizza oven. Is that correct assumption?
Restaurant owner in Italy here: We usually don’t offer pizza at lunchtime because it takes time and wood to fire up the oven and keep it at temperature. Low request volume means it’s not worth it, at least for small pizza places.
If you want pizza for lunch you head to a bakery or “bar” and they have squares (not “slices”) ready for you to pick up.
Technically it’s a family business that I grew up into and I ended up being a developer because at 14 I made the restaurant’s website with Macromedia Fireworks and Dreamweaver.
Traditionally pizza dough should be made on the same day, but takes several time consuming stages and at least 3 hours to rise, so I suspect it’s just that the dough isn’t ready until later in the day.
A lot of the better-quality pizzerias now offer a 48-hour dough option. IIRC the longer it is left to rise, the less yeast it requires, and the easier it is to digest.
Yes, you can get pizza for lunch in Italy. I know because I had it in Sorrento. :) But I had to insist on it (hey, it's on the menu!) and the owner grumbled something something about dumb tourists and about having to heat the oven and charged me extra for it.
It’s hilarious how people are so ingrained in their culture that these things affect them so much. Like if I ate a roast dinner for breakfast or took a shower every lunch time, I’d be considered a madman.
It sounds absolutely silly but really there’s few good reasons for most of our habits.
With my Anglo/American breakfast habits I was kind of shocked that traditional Japanese breakfast includes a full range of fish, rice, soup, salad and more or less anything else normally eaten. I probably feel as strongly about breakfast being mild or sweet flavors as Italians do for cappuccino after 11 and for no better reason.
We'll wait, what are you calling 'curry'? Because British kedgeree (as kedgeree is) is distinct from what any Briton I know would call 'curry' - even given the disservice we do India by calling almost everything 'curry' - and further distinct even from khicadi (खिचड़ी) from which it takes its name, and moves to breakfast.
I arrived in Milan after two days traveling without sleep, found a restaurant for lunch, and asked for a coffee. "Yes, absolutely, right after lunch". I begged. He brought it to me, and was very nice about it. I am so sorry to put him through that.
Fantastic meal, by the way. I had never understood risotto until then.
