Compensation was provided by Bertolli Frozen Meals. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions of Bertolli Frozen Meals.
Growing up my parents both worked crazy hours to put food on the table and clothes on their kids. The only time I really remember seeing my dad was at the dinner table. He usually sat at the head of the table, looking exhausted, but no matter how tired he was we always gathered around the dinner table together as my mom served fresh, home-cooked food family style. There we talked about our days and filled our parents in about school. I didn’t realize how important that ritual would become to us.
Even as grown adults with families of our own we still gathered together every Sunday to eat dinner with my parents. Each year the number of place settings grow. The dinners are noisier and more chaotic as everyone shares in their families stories. It’s where we catch up, we tease and we celebrate. It’s where we told our family we decided to join the Military and it’s where we told them we would be moving across the country.
Now that I live in Florida, these family dinners are one of the things I look forward to most on trips home. I’m home visiting family now and even though our lives are busier than ever my family still manages to surround the table together.Not only did it instill a sense of tradition we would continue well into adulthood it also influenced the way I cook for my family today. The majority of nights I cook using fresh ingredients and serve home made dishes. We always joke that we may not be Italians but we tend to dine like “Mangia” with our love of fresh ingredients, pasta dishes and family-style dinners.
This year, Bertolli is encouraging people to live Mangia and eat like Italians do. We all know that Italians love their pasta, but did you know that one-quarter of Italians eat pasta on a daily basis, compared to just two percent of Americans? But what Italians do even better than Americans, is surround their tables with people they love.
Eighty-four percent of Italians eat at the table with family, and 70 percent of Italians eat family-style, compared to 31 percent of Americans who eat family style.
These days we’re busier than ever but there are ways to make dining like an Italian easier. Bertolli’s authentic frozen meals make cooking dinner easy as pie. They recently introduced a completely reformulated line of authentic Italian skillet meals that feature a recipe-like, simple ingredient list with transparent packaging that offers a look inside the bag.
My family recently tried the Chicken Florentine and Farfalle and the recipe has just four components: Sauce, Cooked Pasta, Seasoned White Meat Chicken and Spinach. As someone who usually turned their nose up at frozen food, my family has been eating Bertolli frozen meals for quite some time because the ingredients truly taste delicious and authentic. But what’s just as important is that they’re cooked in just 10-12 minutes – so no matter how crazy our days are, it’s easy to put a meal on the table that we can all gather around together and enjoy.
How do you ensure your family gathers around the table at mealtime? You can Explore More Ways to Mangia Here.