The Italian Eating Environment

Growing up with the last name Taconelli, I often received two questions: 1. Oh my GOODNESS ARE YOU ITALIAN??? 2. DOES YOUR FAMILY COOK ITALIAN FOOD A LOT??? My answers are always yes, but people don't always understand how intense the Italian eating environment can be. I obviously love the food, I mean who doesn't, but the stress that my very Italian family puts on me to learn the recipes and always go for seconds at dinner can sometimes be annoying. Not to mention, my family always tells me Mac n Cheese shouldn't be called Mac n Cheese unless it's made with a Macaroni noodle. You cannot call spaghetti and meatballs as such unless it'a cooked with a spaghetti noodle. The correct noodle is absolutely detrimental to Italian cuisine. According to my aunt, one is simply not Italian unless you can name at least 5 different types of noodle (I can, by the way). Not only is food criticized, but the amount you eat is as well. I don't understand how the rest of my family just never seems to be full! At dinners, I get comments like "you'll never grow if you don't eat!" after already having a large helping of chicken parm or meatballs. They always force dinner (and sometimes second dinner at 10pm) upon me like it's an Italian requirement to keep eating. No matter how stressful or annoying they may be, the food they cook can always outweigh it, even if they force me to keep eating.