Microblog Memes

Uh... Lotta people in not Italy with Italian grandmothers are in not Italy because their Grandma fled fascism.

I hate both of the people in this discussion.

Me, on the lookout for fascist nonas, as I break my spaghetti

Americans love to pull up this kind of bullshit, but it really falls even flatter after 2024. You can't do "nazi bar" rhetoric while you have an unmarked militia disappearing people off the streets and doing fuck all about it

My Italian grandpa escaped a Nazi camp and brought his wife and my mom to America. Now I need to escape my family back to Italy. Funny how that worked out

Shooting fascists and risking everything for liberty. We should all follow her example. That also means you don’t break the pasta.

Parading the body of Mussolini through Italy by his ankles. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Benito_Mussolini

1940 was 85 years ago, so unless said 👵 is over a 💯 years old, she was only a child back then.

Grandma was supporting fucking "gugu gaga" movement in the 1940, did you think she was born in fucking 1918?

There is this nice little book by Alberto Grandi that looks at the history of Italian cuisine and finds out that many of those "old food traditions" were invented after WW2. It's really a great read if you want to talk a look behind this italian food snobbery:

https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20250227-is-there-no-such-thing-as-italian-cuisine

Broke spaghetti last night while cooking for dinner. I also threw it against the cabinet to make sure it was done cooking.

I have a toddler so cooking "rules" go out the window for laughter.

It's 2025. There's barely a person on Lemmy whose grandma's were more than 15 years old in the early 1940's.

She was a child... But what does that have to do with spaghetti anyway?

My grandma was a first generation immigrant from Italy and would not have given a shit. I don't have a strong preference but not everyone wants longass spaghetti.

There's 37643782 pasta shapes and they all taste good

To me, breaking spaghetti is just a big sign that someone is a novice at cooking. It's done because the person thinks they can't fit them in the pot and are too inexperienced to know that the noodles will soften enough in just a few seconds to push them the rest of the way in.

It's less "My Italian ancestors would be horrified" and more "Do you know what you're doing? Would you like some help before you ruin whatever dish you're trying to make?"

I personally don't break spaghetti, but a friend of mine once asked what difference it would make for taste and consistency, and i didn't have an answer.

If it fits in the pan, no break

If it doesn't fit in the pan and you don't have a tall pan, break

If you have a tall pan, and you have no compulsion or impairment preventing you from enjoying full length noodles, get your fucking life together what were you thinking trying to break the pasta like that?

My Italian grandmother taught me to break the spaghetti. Also, my Italian grandfather fought for the Allies in WW1, coming to the US in 1923 the last year before the xenophobic, 1924 anti-immigration bill was passed essentially cutting off immigration. He came with his pregnant sister through many trials on a long boat cruise to re-unite her with her husband who was already living in the US. So by 1940 my Italian grandmother was supporting the US where she had lived for over a decade. Please do not make assumptions about people's Italian grandmothers.

BTW my grandfather was a bit of a bad-ass, he served in the Arditi, Italian shock-troops who specialized in explosives and close quarter combat with edged weapons. He taught me to shoot a rifle when I was 7!

My grandparent was hiding from the Nazis with their family, as a child?

They also were pushed to stay in the US because Italy wasn’t exactly great postwar, either. Unfortunately here is a more explicitly fascist hellhole now, too.

We also ate broken spaghetti growing up. It’s fine.