Lifestream

Not long ago, I joined an Italian cooking group on Facebook. I thought it would be a good opportunity to pick up some tips and recipes. I left the group a couple of months later, after some members became...oh, let's call it "agitated"...over whether Sunday ragu was a "sauce" or a "gravy".

It sounds like a joke, doesn't it? Personal attacks stemming from disagreements over culinary terminology seem like such a cartoonish Italian stereotype that you almost think it just can't be true. Or maybe you just don't want it to be.

I mean, I don't particularly enjoy pineapple on my pizza, but if you do my reaction is generally just to shrug and move on. My reaction, notably, does not involve calling you a "festering puke" and then telling you to go "die in a fire".