Italian cuisine is renowned for its authenticity and simplicity, yet many dishes labeled as “Italian” abroad are unrecognizable to Italians. This phenomenon is largely due to the creative adaptations ...

For the average home cook, making Italian on a weeknight might include boiling a pot of water with salt, tossing in some boxed spaghetti, and then smothering the cooked pasta in a jar of marinara.

There was a time in the U.S. when Italian food, brought to the country by scores of immigrants, was seen as exotic and unusual. But it's been fully embraced for generations now, with recipes and ...