Eating Italian right

THE FOOD CLUB

gRitu Dalmia of Delhi's best-known Italian restaurant, Diva, has a few pet hates. Okay, she has many pet peeves. These are just a few of them:

Those Who Request Chicken In Pasta. "Both are white in colour, and neither have much in the way of flavour. Italians need the interplay of colour as well as flavour, which is why they combine pasta with ham, bacon, seafood (in which case the pasta is tinted with saffron) or tomato sauce. You want to eat Italian food the way it's eaten in Italy? Please don't ask for chicken in combination with pasta. At least, not in my restaurant. And no chicken sausage either: it's unheard of in Italy. If you want chicken, there are a number of main courses you can opt for."

Those Who Order Pasta And Follow It Up With A Pizza. "It's piling on one starch after the other. That's not the way a meal is eaten in Italy. If you are not up to all four courses of a typical Italian meal (starters, pasta, main course and dessert), choose as many as you feel comfortable with, but stick to the correct order. Pizza is not a course in an Italian meal. It is a snack, like chhola bhatura is. You wouldn't start a meal with chhola bhatura and end up with kadhi chawal, so either have pizza as a whole meal, or as a snack. In any case, in Italy, no restaurant serves pizza: they're available only at pizzerias which don't serve anything else."

Dalmia has nothing but scorn for Those Who Demand A Sprinkling Of Cheese On Their Fish. Or prawns, squid, lobster, crab whatever.

"Dairy produce and seafood are such opposite ends of the food spectrum that nobody in Italy ever eats these two components in the same dish."

Dalmia goes on to explain that in south Italy, when fish is served as a main course, it is occasionally sprinkled with toasted breadcrumbs for the texture it adds.

Her other grouse is Diners Asking For Aerated Beverages With Their Food. "In Italy, the only things you're allowed are water or wine. You want beer or coke (the drinking variety), you go to a pizzeria.

However, the largest share of her scorn is reserved for Those Who Order Cappuccino After Their Meal. Especially those who do so in the fond belief that they're following an Italian tradition. "Cappuccino is a breakfast drink. For the rest of the day, it is espresso."

Those Who Demand Their Meat De-boned come in for their share of criticism too. "Italy has seen its fair share of poverty, especially in the south. Nothing ever goes waste.

You get sweetbreads, kidneys, liver, offal "" just about every part of an animal or bird "" at the table. To want boneless meat is to miss the point of one of the world's greatest cuisines.