Italian Food Vocabulary: Collect Your Culinary and Restaurant Words and Phrases Here
Last updated: February 5, 2026
What is your favorite Italian food? Learning Italian food vocabulary opens up more than just conversations about spaghetti.🍝 You'll quickly realize that Italian menus follow a specific structure, and knowing the right words makes ordering so much easier. Plus, understanding what you're actually eating makes the experience way more enjoyable. Let me walk you through the essential terms and phrases you'll need to navigate Italian dining like a pro.
- Understanding the Italian menu structure
- Essential Italian food vocabulary for ingredients
- Common Italian dishes you'll encounter
- Drinks and beverages in Italian
- Words for utensils and table items
- Regional specialties and their vocabulary
- Italian restaurant phrases for ordering
- Handling complaints and special requests
- Practical tips for using Italian food vocabulary
Understanding the Italian menu structure
Italian menus follow a traditional course structure that's pretty different from what you might be used to. Each section has its own name, and knowing these helps you figure out what you're ordering.
- The meal typically starts with antipasto, which means "before the meal." These are your appetizers. Think bruschetta, cured meats like prosciutto, or a simple caprese salad with fresh mozzarella and tomatoes. The word literally breaks down to "anti" (Before) and "pasto" (Meal).
- Next comes the primo piatto, your first course. This is usually pasta, risotto, gnocchi, or soup. Yeah, pasta is considered a starter in traditional Italian dining, which surprised me the first time I ate in Naples. The portions are smaller than what American restaurants serve, which makes sense when you realize there's more food coming.
- The secondo piatto is your second course, featuring meat or fish. This is the protein-focused part of the meal. You'll often see dishes like pollo (Chicken), manzo (Beef), or pesce (Fish) listed here.
- Contorni are side dishes, usually vegetables. These are ordered separately and shared at the table. Common options include insalata (Salad), patate (Potatoes), or verdure grigliate (Grilled vegetables).
- Finally, there's dolci, which means sweets or desserts. This is where you'll find tiramisu, panna cotta, and yes, gelato. Gelato is also the Italian word for ice cream, isn't it? Yep, though traditional gelato has less air and fat than American ice cream, giving it that denser, more intense flavor.
Essential Italian food vocabulary for ingredients
Knowing ingredient names helps you understand what's in each dish. Here are the basics you'll see everywhere.
Pasta varieties go way beyond spaghetti.
Italian | Explanation |
|---|---|
Penne | The tube-shaped pasta |
Rigatoni | The bigger tubes with ridges |
Farfalle | The bow-tie shaped pasta |
Tortellini | The little stuffed pasta rings, sold at the supermarket in Italy (Both fresh and dried) |
For proteins:
Italian | English | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
prosciutto | Prosciutto | Thinly sliced cured ham, often draped over melon or pizza |
pancetta | Pancetta | Italian bacon |
salsiccia | Sausage | Sausage |
acciughe | Anchovies | Appear in more dishes than expected, providing deep, salty umami flavor (e.g., paste in puttanesca sauce) |
Cheese vocabulary is crucial.
Italian | Explanation |
|---|---|
mozzarella | A fresh, soft cheese. |
parmigiano | A hard, granular cheese, often grated (Parmesan). |
pecorino | A firm cheese made from sheep's milk. |
ricotta | A soft, mild, fresh cheese used in fillings for lasagna and cannoli. |
Do you have real Italian mozzarella made from buffalo's milk? If you're in Italy, look for mozzarella di bufala on the menu. It's creamier and more flavorful than the cow's milk version.
Vegetables appear in tons of dishes.
Italian | English |
|---|---|
pomodoro | Tomato |
salsa di pomodoro | Tomato sauce |
carciofi | Artichokes |
melanzane | Eggplant |
funghi | Mushrooms |
spinaci | Spinach |
zucchine | Zucchini |
Common Italian dishes you'll encounter
Walking into an Italian restaurant, you'll see these dishes on almost every menu. Knowing what they are saves you from awkwardly pointing at the menu.
- Risotto is that creamy rice dish cooked slowly with broth. Risotto alla milanese has saffron, giving it a golden color. Risotto ai funghi features mushrooms. The rice gets stirred constantly while cooking, releasing starch that creates that signature creamy texture.
- Gnocchi are those little potato dumplings. They're pillowy soft when made right, and they come with various sauces. Gnocchi al pomodoro means they're served with tomato sauce, while gnocchi al gorgonzola features that pungent blue cheese.
- Pizza styles vary by region. Pizza margherita is the classic with tomato sauce, mozzarella, and basil. Pizza marinara has tomato sauce, garlic, and oregano but no cheese. Pizza quattro formaggi features four different cheeses.
- Pasta dishes have specific names based on their sauce. Carbonara uses eggs, pecorino cheese, guanciale (Cured pork cheek), and black pepper. Amatriciana features tomato sauce, guanciale, and pecorino. Aglio e olio is just garlic and olive oil, simple but delicious.
Drinks and beverages in Italian
The beverage section deserves its own attention because Italian drink culture has specific customs.
- Water comes in two types: acqua naturale (Still water) and acqua frizzante (Sparkling water). They'll always ask which you prefer.
- Wine vocabulary matters if you want to order properly. Vino rosso is red wine, vino bianco is white wine, and vino rosato is rosé. "Un bicchiere di vino" means a glass of wine, while "una bottiglia" is a bottle. The house wine is "vino della casa."
- Coffee has strict rules. Cappuccino is only drunk in the morning. After meals, you order an espresso, which Italians just call "un caffè." Caffè macchiato is espresso with a splash of milk. Caffè latte is mostly milk with coffee, but ordering this might get you a glass of plain milk since "latte" literally means milk.
- Beer is "birra." "Una birra alla spina" is draft beer, while "una birra in bottiglia" is bottled.
Words for utensils and table items
Sometimes you need to ask for specific items at the table. These Italian words come in handy.
Italian | English |
|---|---|
forchetta | Fork |
coltello | Knife |
cucchiaio | Spoon |
piatto | Plate |
ciotola | Bowl |
bicchiere | Glass |
tazza | Cup |
tovaglioli | Napkins |
sale | Salt |
pepe | Pepper |
olio | Oil |
pane | Bread |
burro | Butter, though butter isn't as common in Italian cucina as olive oil. |
Regional specialties and their vocabulary
Italian food varies hugely by region, and each area has signature dishes with specific names.
In Rome, you'll find cacio e pepe (Cheese and pepper pasta), and supplì (Fried rice balls). Tuscany is famous for bistecca alla fiorentina (Florentine steak) and ribollita (A hearty vegetable soup).
Sicily brings arancini (Stuffed rice balls), caponata (Eggplant dish), and cannoli. The island has tons of Arab influence in its cucina, which makes the flavors different from northern Italy.
Emilia-Romagna gives us tortellini, tagliatelle al ragù (What Americans call Bolognese), and parmigiano reggiano cheese. This region takes its food seriously.
Italian restaurant phrases for ordering
You'll need these phrases when actually sitting down to eat. They're pretty straightforward once you practice them a few times.
- To get the server's attention, say "Scusi" (Excuse me). When you're ready to order, they might ask "Avete scelto?" which means "Have you chosen?"
- Ordering goes like this: "Vorrei..." means "I would like..." So you'd say "Vorrei il risotto ai funghi" for mushroom risotto. If you want to ask what something is, use "Che cos'è..." followed by the dish name.
- For dietary needs, "Sono vegetariano/vegetariana" means "I'm vegetarian." "Sono allergico a..." means "I'm allergic to..." followed by the ingredient. "Senza glutine" means gluten-free.
- When you want the check, say "Il conto, per favore" (The check, please). Tipping works differently in Italy. Service charge is usually included, and leaving a few euros is plenty.
Handling complaints and special requests
Sometimes things go wrong, and you need to speak up. Here's how to do it politely.
- If something's wrong with your food, start with "Mi scusi, ma..." (Excuse me, but...). "Questo è freddo" means "This is cold" if your food arrived not hot enough. "Non ho ordinato questo" means "I didn't order this."
- For special requests, "Posso avere..." (Can I have...) works for most situations. "Posso avere il formaggio a parte?" means "Can I have the cheese on the side?" "Senza cipolle, per favore" is "Without onions, please."
- If you want recommendations, ask "Cosa mi consiglia?" which means "What do you recommend?" The staff usually knows what's best that day.
Practical tips for using Italian food vocabulary
Have you had any experience with similar words for food? If you've studied Spanish or French, you'll notice cognates that make learning Italian food words easier. Pomodoro looks like French "pomme d'or" (Golden apple), which makes sense since tomatoes were once called golden apples.
- Start by memorizing the menu structure first. Once you know antipasto, primo, secondo, and dolci, you can navigate any Italian menu even if you don't know every ingredient.
- Focus on dishes you actually like eating. If you love risotto, learn all the risotto variations. If pasta's your thing, master those sauce names. You'll remember vocabulary way better when it's connected to food you enjoy.
- Practice pronunciation before you go. Italians appreciate when you try, even if your accent isn't perfect. The double consonants matter. Penne (Pasta) and pene (Penis) are different words, and you definitely want to pronounce them correctly.
- Don't stress about being perfect. Point at the menu if you need to. Most servers in tourist areas speak some English, but making the effort with Italian words shows respect and usually gets you better service.
Anyway, if you want to practice Italian vocabulary with real content, Migaku's browser extension and app let you look up words instantly while watching Italian cooking shows or reading recipe blogs. Makes learning food terms way more natural than memorizing lists. There's a 10-day free trial if you want to check it out.
But if you're an ice cream lover, the list of Italian gelato flavors will feel relevant...
But if you're an ice cream lover, why not try the Italian-style ice cream called gelato? Seriously, once you've had real gelato in Italy, regular ice cream tastes weird. You can explore videos about how gelato is made as well, and learn Italian and its culture at the same time.
If you consume media in Italian, and you understand at least some of the messages and sentences within that media, you will make progress. Period.
If to name one universal experience, that must be food!