In my ongoing attempts to keep you up to date on world culinary trends, the Chico News & Review recently sent me to northern Italy. Since the corporate jet was in the shop, I had to fly commercial coach, but it was worth the lack of legroom. I got the goods on il buono, il cattivo, e il brutto of Venetian cuisine.

First, everything you think you know about Italian food doesn’t apply to Italy north of Rome. I never saw spaghetti, or marinara sauce on pasta. The pasta is usually bigoli (a large, heavy noodle), and the pasta sauce is a brown gravy called ragù. I never saw a meatball. Pizza doesn’t come with pepperoni. And “peperoni” are peppers, not sausage slices.