I Love Italian Food. Prove It.

Everybody says it. “I love Italian food.” Then they order the chicken Alfredo.

I'm Max Braglia. I was born in Bologna, which means I grew up eating the actual ragù — the one that simmers for four hours and has never once met a jar. Then I moved to the United States, where I learned that “spaghetti bolognese” is a dish here. It is not a dish in Bologna. Nobody in Bologna has ever eaten it. I had to sit with that for a while.

So I built this.

Ten questions. Nonna Lucia asks, you answer, she reacts. She is not a real person, but she is assembled from several real ones, and I promise the disappointment is accurate. Break the spaghetti in half and watch what her face does.

The “I love Italian food” quiz takes about ninety seconds and the worst thing that happens is you get banned from an entire country by a cartoon.

Most people score worse than they expect. That's sort of the point. The cappuccino thing alone takes out about half of you, and honestly, we knew what you were doing. We always knew.

You love Italian food? Wonderful. Nonna is right there. Go say it to her face.

— Max Braglia. Italy gave me the food. America gave me the room to be ridiculous about it. Born in Italy, made in America.