Mangiare all'italiana: regional, national or international cuisine?

Some authors claim that there is no Italian cuisine per se, but a set of regional cuisines that often refer to the tradition of the comuni with their traditions, their customs, and even their dialectal variants. The heterogeneous historical, geographical and cultural background did not prevent an internationally recognized "Italian cuisine", whose importance in the gastronomic world is undeniable. The Italian cuisine is not just a sum of the various regional cuisines. Rather, it has established itself as an identity throughout the history. Feeding practices and food culture are essential elements of the Italian identity and reveal that the Italians had existed before the "Italy as a country". The pasta is a flagship product in the history of Italy: it is at the same time a popular and an exquisite food. This paradox was brought along with the pasta as it came to Brazil. Nowadays, Italy is not the country where poverty and hunger expel its inhabitants, but a country that exports the Italian style and finds in its pasta a symbol of style. In Brazil, when currently seeking for the authentic cucina italiana we actually find the real "made in Italy" in the cuisine of each region.