Most everybody thinks that they are a connoisseur of good Italian food. If you are Italian, and have grown up with the food all your life, then it's a lot easier to know what is truly accurate cooking and what is "posing."

Italian food is uncomplicated, but sometimes rather expensive to make. Americans tend to want to add too many things to Italian sauces, thinking "the more the better", when really, simplicity is the key. Another common mistake is to buy too many grocery store ingredients ..things that should only be purchased in an Italian store, or gourmet-specialty store, such as the various cheeses. Most groceries have decent brand names of olive oils nowadays, so that's a good thing. Back to the cheese issue for a second; please get Parmesan out of your heads, and start thinking Romano.I consider Parmesan an eating cheese. Even though in Italy Romano was originally a peasant's cheese, in my opinion, Romano makes the world go round. Imported, sheep's milk Romano is stronger and much more flavorful than Parmesan.

The last thing I will say is that there is one other glaring problem with the Italian food that is being served out there nowadays - too much garlic. When a dish is drowned with garlic, this tells me that the cook doesn't know much about mixing flavors, and I can only consider it an attempt to conceal that fact. Too much garlic is cheating...it's for amateurs.

Now, with these few things said, if you haven't gotten annoyed or insulted, I hope you will become a better Italian cook.