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| This is just in german switzerland though, and I guess in germany too (perhaps a german can confirm or not). It's in their culture that when you go to the restaurant you usually consume the whole meal in a dish only.
Therefore where ordering spaghetti expect a huge dish of pasta... they don't understand it's just wrong. And after that you can't consume anything else because that much pasta will make you feel stuffed..
In Italy we eat a lot of pasta but in much smaller portions, because after that there are usually another 2 dishes to come.
Suggestion: avoid italian restaurants in german switzerland.. apart from a few exceptions they are at the level of the worst italian trattoria and very overpriced. I once asked the owner of an italian restaurant why didn't they offer the food to the italian standards and he replied that the locals "want it that way". I said ok... restaurant will be my own house since now on  | |
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A) Yes, in German speaking lands, it is part of basic education that you have "to eat up"
B) But Italian restaurants in Zürich offer a nice (but exorbitantly expensive) salad as starter, and a dessert at the end, and many people DO eat through
C) Portions in Italy tend to be normal and in accordance with local culture
D) Italian restaurants in Zürich ? Overpriced yes, but in fact rather good. I had a colleague in office who had the citizenship of both Roma and Zurigo and she had the opinion that the Italian restaurants in Zurich were better than their Rome counterparts
E) I however see that the owners and managers of the Italian restaurants and their personnel are "Swiss-ised" quite heavily
F) and I am very sorry that this owner cheated on two counts
----> it is NOT "wanted that way" by the locals
----> he himself has become "Swiss" to a wide extent
Many Italian restaurants in the Zurich area in fact offer "small portion" of Spaghetti, which are really in heavy demand. Not yet in regard to Pizza. When, usually out of lack of alternatives, ordering a pizza, I shove all the "goodies" on it to one side, and leave the emptied side to ......
the personnel is shocked ...
I btw. have been in Italy in most summers between 1954 and 72 for 2 weeks and later on again and again on smaller "excursions" for many years and know things in this regard
Italian restaurants only in one place were miserable and that was in London in the early 1970ies (lousy stuff, mediocre service)
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oh, and yes you may know what I mean. In Liguria, more preciscely Varigotti, I enjoyed those small 2cm long little fish fried in big "tanks". My older brother was lead to such a stand his grandmother had by a local friend of Bergamo origin, just beside our hotel, but he hated fish. And then the old women (also from Bergamo) told her grandson "but there is that smaller boy with him" .. and so, her grandson came over to ask me to come to his grandmother, and I did enjoy that stuff very much. I for two weeks had them free-of-charge very often and there learnt my first bits of Italian !