Emanuele Pettener, born in Venice, arrived at Purdue University, Indiana, in 2000 as a Ph.D. student. He completed his doctoral studies at Florida Atlantic University, in Boca Raton, where he is currently Associate Professor of Italian and Writer in Residence. Of his five novels published in Italy, the first was translated by Giorgio Tarchini and published in the United States by Bordighera Press in 2025 under the title It's Saturday You Left Me and I'm So Beautiful; the fourth, Floridiana, was published in Spain in 2024 by Sloper Editorial in a translation by Juan José Delgado Gelabert. The essay When We Were Bandini. Humor and Satire in John Fante's American Dream, translated into English by Zachary Scalzo, was published in the United States in 2024 by Farleigh Dickinson University Press.
What was your first impression of the food when you moved to America?
Huge portions. A lot of sugar.
We’re you surprised by any of the foods, Italian or not, you discovered in America?
So many fantastic discoveries: clam chowder, spinach dip, chili, cheesecake, sushi (that did not exist, at least in the Veneto region, when I left Italy). Too many to mention. Then the first time in an “Italian” restaurant. Loaves of bread sweating garlic. Recipes never heard of in Italy. Spaghetti as a side dish. Nothing wrong with that, but I think it's time to recognize an Italian American identity, that is, a specific culture born from a specific experience.
On a scale of one to 10, how do you rate Italian food in America?
As I said, at least in my experience (I live in South Florida), there is no such thing as Italian food in America. There is Italian American cuisine, with its own history and dignity. It is flavorful and heavy. My taste buds like it, but my cholesterol is less appreciative. My grade: 8.
Are there any Italian products that you wish you could readily get here that you can't?
Cured meats. But perhaps it's better that I don't find them (at least not of the extraordinary quality and variety that I can find in Italy), so as not to make my blood tests disturbing. The same goes for cheese: I think of the incredible quality (and variety: Sardinian, Friulian, Apulian...) of fresh ricotta. And fresh bread straight out of the oven, in all its possible forms! Fresh is a discriminating adjective. I would like to find more fresh and genuine food in American supermarkets.
What is your favorite Italian dish to make at home?
Melanzane alla parmigiana.
Are there any Italian places where you live that you like to go out to eat?
I live in Italy for three months a year, sometimes four. So, when I'm in America, I like to enjoy American cuisine, especially Southern cuisine, which (I may be wrong) seems to have the strongest and most deeply rooted identity among the cuisines of the United States. Given where I live, I also enjoy recipes influenced by the nearby Caribbean or Latin America. I have discovered wonderful things here, even from an aesthetic point of view, from guacamole to ceviche to encebollado, which a friend from Ecuador made for me. These are dishes that move me just thinking about them.
Any place you haven’t tried yet but want to go?
I have several Italian friends here. They are all incredible cooks. Every occasion is a good excuse for a party, whether it's Christmas, one of our children's birthdays, or Halloween. The place to eat Italian food is at their homes.
Is there a kind of cuisine, other than Italian, that you might go out for or make at home?
I would love to learn how to make encebollado!
The next time you go back to Italy, where's the first place you're going to go eat?
At my mother’s house.
