Italian cuisine came to the United States with Italian immigrants, most of who came from the south of Italy and arrived in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
The culture in the United States has altered traditional Italian dishes since this time, examples of which include toasted ravioli from St Louis, Missouri and muffuletta sandwiches from New Orleans.
A lot of people emigrated from Sicily and Naples and made their homes in big American cities like Boston and New York.
Ones from the south of the country would use ingredients like dried pasta, olive oil, and tomato sauce.
Ones from the north would prefer fresh pasta, rice, and butter.
A lot of steakhouses have been influenced by Italian cuisine because they were set up by Italians.
You can get a lot of different kinds of convenience food such as canned pasta sauce, heat-and-eat spaghetti and frozen pizzas and this is part of the reason why this cuisine has the mistaken reputation for being "all pasta and pizzas" when that is not true at all.
There is no doubt that the traditional food has been influenced by the American diet and, along with Mexican and Chinese cuisine, this cuisine is one of the top three international cuisines in the United States.
More than nine out of ten people have tried these cuisines and enjoy them regular and, according to a survey, the average American is more concerned about the flavor and pricing of the international food that whether it is authentic.
A lot of American style pizzas and pasta dishes would be unrecognizable to an Italian.
Food And Wine Winemaking seems to go hand in hand with food from Italy in America, especially if you are from Italy or a descendant, and a lot of Italian-Americans like to drink wine with their dinner, to make it more enjoyable and sociable.
A lot of stereotyped restaurants have straw-covered Chianti bottles on the tables, as decoration, and these are the same places you might imagine with red and white checked tablecloths.
Most people have been to such a place and they do vary in quality.
Remember though, that just because a restaurant looks traditional and authentic that does not necessarily mean it is a good one.
Although the nicknamed "dago red" wines were popular during prohibition because they were homemade, higher quality Californian reds are now more popular and have been so since the 1970s.
Typical Dishes Lasagna is a well known dish and this is often made with ricotta.
Bechamel sauce would be used in northern Italy instead of ricotta.
Spaghetti with meatballs dates back to the 1800s in southern Italy but is pretty much extinct there now.
This dish is iconic in America and the meatballs are often cooked in the sauce.
The poorer Italians used to eat peas and eggs and this dish is popular in the United States around Lent.
It is made with peas, eggs, garlic, onion, olive oil, and pepper.
Frittata, an open-faced omelet that can be made with asparagus, peas, potatoes, zucchini or any other vegetable, as well as eggs, is another delicacy from Italy and this can be served alone or in a sandwich.
There are lots more traditional recipes besides these.