Sauce or gravy?

[cateyes1]

When you make spaghetti, do you call it sauce or gravy you put on it?

[Nancy5]

I call it sauce, my husband and his family (italian) call it gravy.

[bretay]

sauce for spaghetti..gravy to me is something that goes over rice,potatoes or biscuits

[bremer51]

We refer to it as sauce. 

[ghunter]

We like sauce on our spaghetti

[pkrahmer]

Even tough it isn't often when i have pasta it has to have meatballs and sauce!

[nmbrown863]

I call it spaghetti sauce.

[Kimdud22]

I call it spaghetti sauce!

[dreamyxo]

Sauce.

[jkhanson]

We call it spaghetti sauce.

Gravy is something we make from beef roast juices or fried chicken bits in the pan....

[1imaginarygirl]

Interesting. I've never heard of spaghetti gravy, so I googled it and found this blog.

https://hardcoreitalians.blog/2019/05/22/is-it-sauce-or-gravy-why-italians-argue-about-the-term/

Where the term came about
Although the term “Gravy” doesn’t exist in Italy, it WAS in fact invented by Italians from Italy. When Italians immigrated to the United States, they tried to assimilate to American culture. Although they wanted to keep their traditions and heritage, they desired to become accepted in the new country. For most Italians, this meant learning English!

During the Americanization process, there was a confusion with the word “Ragu” (A.K.A. Meat Sauce). If you translate “Sugo” to English you get “Sauce” but when you translate “Ragú” to English you get “Ragout.” Ragout is a French-styled stew. Uh, oh!

I’m not sure about you, but if I was new in America trying to fit in… I certainly wouldn’t invite people over for ragout!

This lead to a difference in opinion. Some Italians choose to call it “Meat Sauce” while some decided to call it “Gravy.”

Why gravy? Americans were already using it to describe sauce containing meat. That is actually how it is termed in the definition. Understandable at the time to choose the word, since there weren’t many resources or speech pathologists on hand!

It is rumored that only certain areas started calling it “Gravy.” For example, many people will comment that it’s a ‘Jersey thing.’ However, I’ve heard people from all over the United States use it. This makes it very hard to pinpoint the exact origin.

[Nancy5]

Interesting. I've never heard of spaghetti gravy, so I googled it and found this blog.

https://hardcoreitalians.blog/2019/05/22/is-it-sauce-or-gravy-why-italians-argue-about-the-term/

Where the term came about
Although the term “Gravy” doesn’t exist in Italy, it WAS in fact invented by Italians from Italy. When Italians immigrated to the United States, they tried to assimilate to American culture. Although they wanted to keep their traditions and heritage, they desired to become accepted in the new country. For most Italians, this meant learning English!

During the Americanization process, there was a confusion with the word “Ragu” (A.K.A. Meat Sauce). If you translate “Sugo” to English you get “Sauce” but when you translate “Ragú” to English you get “Ragout.” Ragout is a French-styled stew. Uh, oh!

I’m not sure about you, but if I was new in America trying to fit in… I certainly wouldn’t invite people over for ragout!

This lead to a difference in opinion. Some Italians choose to call it “Meat Sauce” while some decided to call it “Gravy.”

Why gravy? Americans were already using it to describe sauce containing meat. That is actually how it is termed in the definition. Understandable at the time to choose the word, since there weren’t many resources or speech pathologists on hand!

It is rumored that only certain areas started calling it “Gravy.” For example, many people will comment that it’s a ‘Jersey thing.’ However, I’ve heard people from all over the United States use it. This makes it very hard to pinpoint the exact origin.

That is interesting.  I never knew why my in-laws called it gravy, I just always went along with it.  I called it sauce and usually would call it sauce when in their company.  Thanks for the information.

[elvisdo]

I call it sauce, my wife calls it gravy.

[ktheodos]

Interesting....I had never heard the term referred to as gravy...I think of gravy as what I put on mashed potatoes...sauce is what I put on spaghetti

[pectacon]

Italian family, only ever heard it called sauce. I've never heard anybody call it gravy. I would be so confused if I heard that.