The following article, written by Frankie Celenza, appears on The Huffington Post.

Italian-American Food Never Claimed To Be Italian, So You Can Stop Hating On It

A lot of Italians don’t approve of America’s spaghetti and meatballs. Here’s why that doesn’t really matter.

Most Americans don’t see a difference between Italian food and Italian-American food, but native Italians sure do.

They’re often perplexed by the size of our dishes, the quantity of ingredients and the recipe rule-breaking we Americans commit, sometimes going so far as to ask, “This is a joke, right?”