This is the second episode of the Italian American Power Hour. These episodes will air periodically and will feature Italian Americans talking about the Italian American community today and current cultural topics.

In this episode we talk about the long-debated subject around sauce vs. gravy. We discuss the different opinions around this topic and how this relates to who we are as a community, but at the end of the episode we discuss the true importance of this topic.

Tweetables

• “Most people don’t have an academic background in the reasoning why certain words are used in our vocabulary.” – Pat O’Boyle
• “Gravy became an Italian American colonialism for what they would call in Italy “Ragu”” – Rossella Rago
• “Until the 1950’s, 95 % of the Southern Italy immigrants spoke the standard Italian language.” – Pat O’Boyle
• “I think the reason Italian Americans gets so passionate about food, is because it is so very important to them.” – Pat O’Boyle
• “Who are we to tell anyone that what they grew up doing or saying was incorrect?” – Rossella Rago
• “We are so attached to words and names because it is part of who we are.” – Pat O’Boyle
• “If the word gravy or sauce comforts you, then call it whatever you want to call it.” – Rossella Rago
• “The whole purpose of this podcast is that we have an enduring culture that is going to survive past the Italian immigration.” – Pat O’Boyle
• “There are so many versions of Italian American culture that are out there and deserve to be respected.” – John Viola
• “Shouldering the burden of changing the minds of hundreds and thousands of Italian Americans is never what I ever set out to do.” – Rossella Rago
• “I don’t think any of us know enough to tell other people what to call things or what to cook and what to eat.” – Rossella Rago
• “The diversity of who we are makes us the community that we are.” – John Viola

We hope you enjoyed this episode, please leave your gravy/sauce comments below.