Is The Olive Garden A Quality Source Of Authentic Ethnic Food?

A lot of people are truly going to be shocked if you ever travel to Italy to go out to eat and find out that they don't give you unlimited salad, unlimited breadsticks, and bottomless pasta for $8.99. A lot of American's consider Olive Garden to be a “quality source of authentic ethnic food”. I thought so, they go to a culinary school in Italy. What's more authentic then that?

According to a new survey by Public Policy Polling, 39% of Americans consider Olive Garden to be authentic, while 44% say it's not authentic ethnic food, and 17% weren't sure.

So the question remains, is Olive Garden authentic?

According to their website:

“Olive Garden is a family of more than 780 local restaurants committed to providing every guest with a genuine Italian dining experience.”

How do they learn that genuine Italian recipes? Olive Garden instructs their staff at the Culinary Institute of Tuscany. At a Tuscan village in Italy, more than 1,200 chefs and managers have been inspired by “the art of authentic Italian cuisine”. These teams learn the secrets of great Italian cooking while cooking in Italy.

What's more authentic than that?