Italian fried food has a rich tradition. But these TikTok videos sell it short.

Key Points:

• The chicken cutlet has become a popular symbol of Italian cooking on social media, but it represents only a small part of Italy's rich frying tradition known as fritti, which includes a wide variety of fried vegetables, seafood, and dough-based dishes.
• Naples, historically a hub for street food and deep-frying, developed many iconic fried foods due to economic necessity, with frying making otherwise undesirable or leftover ingredients palatable for the poor.
• Italian American cuisine in the U.S. largely narrowed to fried cutlets because of practical constraints like limited kitchen space and equipment, as well as cultural assimilation pressures that led immigrants to simplify their culinary traditions.
• The broader Italian frying tradition is extensive and regionally diverse, featuring dishes like supplì, arancini, carciofi alla giudia, and various fried desserts, many of which have faded from everyday home cooking in both Italy and Italian American communities.
• Contemporary health concerns and changing attitudes toward frying fats have further diminished the practice, but the tradition remains an important and flavorful aspect of Italian culinary heritage that deserves deeper appreciation beyond the popular cutlet.