Italian-American citizens have influenced both our language and our society. With the immigration of many Italians to our country, they not only have contributed to our language, but also to our culture.
Words used in English that are borrowed from the Italian language are commonly known as loan words.
Our language contains many Italian loans words. These words encompass many areas of our society like food, music, architecture, literature and art, the military, commerce and banking.
The Italian loan words are the most dominantly descriptive in the subject area of our foods. We are all familiar with pizza, ravioli, pasta, bologna (baloney), coffee, pepperoni, salami, soda, artichoke and broccoli, but the more discriminate gourmets might find many other foods and drinks found here to excite their palates.
A barista is a person who makes and serves coffee in a coffee bar. He may make a cappuccino, which is an espresso coffee mixed or topped with steamed milk or cream.
Many Italian cold cuts are available at your local delicatessen. You might enjoy the taste of prosciutto, which is an aged, dry-cured and spiced Italian ham, sliced to your preferred thickness for use in sandwiches.
Other delicious offerings are available at many choice Italian restaurants like panini, an Italian sandwich made usually with vegetables, cheese, and grilled or cooked meat. Ciabatta an open textured bread made with olive oil. Foccacia is a flat Italian bread traditionally flavored with olive oil and salt, and often topped with herbs and onions.
Fish items are available like calamari, a squid prepared as food; or scampi, which are large shrimp boiled or sautéed and served in garlic and butter sauce.