to not want to go on holiday with DH as he’s taking Pot Noodles?

On the assumptions you make about me and my experiences Nora! 😳

But as the vast majority of people on this thread have demonstrated. Even people who have only been to Italy once, lots of times (and not Just “tourist” places) like me, or Italians themselves have pointed out on this very thread, there’s more to Italian food than the things the OP’s partner was imagining and you can eat and drink What you like. Even if you’re being judged, which I doubt, the Italians are far too polite and accommodating to make a guest feel uncomfortable. Which was my point - and yours - though I tried not to be quite so condescending as you!

By the way I don’t even like coffee, or pasta, that much - imagine the scandal I must cause! 😳

Well I’m sure that your ‘extensive travels’ to Italy beats hands down me having an Italian mother, over 100 Italian cousins etc. I have also been taken to restaurants tourists don’t go to as they don’t known they exist. As you might gather I go to Italy to see family and occasionally to travel. Being a tourist is a different experience to being a family member.

The glut of pizza/ pasta restaurants in places like Amalfi (25 minutes from my cousins’ homes) and Florence are places they avoid. The little restaurants up in the mountains with fresh truffle picked that day - you won’t find as a tourist/ will be where I get taken. Pizza is the equivalent of fast food eg going out for fish and chips and normally ( in non tourist areas) taken with beer and not even wine.

Moreover food etiquette is very important to Italians but they are too polite to tell you. They have huge rules eg never putting salad on the same plate as other food. However they indulge the oddities of other nationalities and will serve you what you want as you want it. Hence they serve cappuccinos all day long if that’s what you want ( whilst thinking that you have baby tastes).

A meal in a family home on a daily basis is eg salad pasta meat/ veg alternative and then fruit. Fruit is always peeled. Wine is drink but is deemed unseemly to have more than one or two small glasses.

Has your DH had a celebratory pot noodle now he is back home?

Thanks for that lesson @Noras but from my reasonably extensive travels in Italy I’d say they don’t care what order or what courses you have. Just eat what you want. As long as it’s not pot noodle

glad you had a good time op.

I’m really please to hear that.

However for everyone out there please understand that pasta is meant as a starter as such. You have anti pasta eg bruschetta or hams or buratta etc the. A pasta or rice dish and then a meat with vegetable dish.

There is much more to Italian food other than pizza and pasta. I had a most amazing plate of food when I went to a proper Italian restaurant and no pasta or pizza in sight.

Glad you had a lovely time!
What did most of us say About Italian food being excellent😸😸

Amazing news OP! Glad you had a great time.

Great update OP!

That super news. So glad you had a good time.

Great news @Astridastro Glad it all went well in the end and you all had a great time!

They haven't.

"Neither do most Italians"

🤣🤣 Italians don't eat pasta??

they haven’t gone AI.

I'm just confused as to why you've gone AI if you want to eat out every evening and he wants to eat pot noodles in. That seems like a huge waste of money to me.

This.

But I also found OPs gleeful ‘update’ that DH ate spaghetti meatballs rather pathetic too. Congrats on the man child.

Nothing gives me the ick more than a grown man eating a pot noodle. I hope he’s not expecting any sex on this holiday because I’d be dry as.

Thanks for sharing, but the OP is going to Italy, as is her DH, so I'm not sure how the fact that BrendaSmall doesn't like pasta has any bearing on the situation.

If she'd asked for recommendations for some comfortable sandals to take with her would you have come on to say that you only wear Wellington boots?

That's quite twattish unless there's a very good reason; doubly so since you've already paid for the food!

I would actually divorce him over this.

But yes definitely go for nice meals with DC and leave DH to his Pot Noodle if that’s what he wants.

Neither do most Italians

Some of these replies seem harsh. Eating limited things and eating bang on certain times suggests neurodiversity to me, and anxiety of being away from familiar things in a different environment.

Sad and pathetic. Make sure you take yourself and the kids out for meals to sample all that amazing country has to offer. I actually can’t abide fussy eating in adults, unless they ARFID or are neurodiverse.

Exactly this!!!

Have you actually been to Italy? We have just returned from Venice and the food is wide-ranging. They do meat, beautiful fish dishes as well as the expected pizza and pasta. There is a huge variety of food, you don’t have to do the stereotypical pizza/pasta thing at all. OP, I would let your husband carry on with his pot noodles and just take the kids out to enjoy the food there. Having authentic Italian food is all part and parcel of the learning experience for them. As someone else said, eating out whilst on holiday is really part of the experience and the fact that you both want different things shouldn’t hinder your enjoyment. Food clearly isn’t high on the agenda for your DH.