In recent years, a number of food writers, chefs and those in the food media have been claiming that Italian-American food is something different from Italian food. They say it was created here in the United States. You probably heard the oft repeated line that there was a lot of beef in the United States when the Italian immigrants arrived over 100 years ago, and that is why they started making large meatballs.

As a descendant of these Italian Americans, and as a writer and lawyer, I felt that I had to do something to defend my ancestors and their foodways. So I wrote a book about the history of Italian food in the United States, Authentic Italian: The Real Story of Italy’s Food and Its People. In it, I detail dishes eaten by Italian Americans, and how they are indeed, Italian.