Many would agree that Italians do it better than most when it comes to food. And although Italy is really more like a cluster of diverse cultures, there are some cooking and dining traditions that hold true from the Dolomites in the north to Sicily in the south. Here are seven Italian traditions that teach some valuable (and delicious) lessons.

Although bread and butter might be staples on the Italian-American table, in Italy bread takes a supporting role. It’s not slathered with butter, soaked in olive oil or drenched in vinegar, but rather is meant to soak up sauce left on your plate. Butter might appear in pasta sauces or sweets, but rarely serves as a condiment. Vinegar surfaces as a simple salad dressing or an acidic component in cooked meat dishes. At an Italian table, diners respect the perennial parental warning "Don’t fill up on bread!"

A typical Italian meal begins with an antipasto (starter), followed by a primo (pasta, risotto or polenta, depending on the region and season), a secondo (meat or fish), a contorno (cooked vegetables or a salad course known as insalata) and dolce (dessert). This staggered approach facilitates portion control, slows the pace of a meal and allows you to savor each dish individually. Italians don’t necessarily eat every course at every meal, but the general order is never muddled—a choice that, some say, ensures efficient digestion.

Al dente pasta is the Italian standard (and in some regions you will find pasta cooked al chiodo, with even more bite), but vegetables are rarely treated to the same gentle cooking. Soft-simmering them or roasting them to the point of caramelization might rob veggies of their snap and structure, but this overcooking helps develop intense flavors and textures.