To take this one step further.. Most, if not all, chain Italian places as well as the local pizzarias do not server real Italian food. They serve a version of special holiday meals.

If Italians actually ate Lasagne, baked ziti, or Carbonara regularly, they would have the same high level of cholesterol and heart disease as Americans do.

At home we only ate those high fat & calorie laden foods on holidays - as in once or twice a year at Christmas & Easter.