Talking with food critic John Mariani

Italian restaurants dominate Long Island. And the popularity goes well beyond Nassau and Suffolk. The rise of Italian cuisine across il mondo intero is detailed in "How Italian Food Conquered the World" (Palgrave Macmillan, $25) by John F. Mariani, who chronicles its growth from the Etruscans and the Romans to Lidia Bastianich and Mario Batali.

Mariani is food and travel columnist for Esquire magazine and also appears on Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Radio. His books include "The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink," "The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink" and, with his wife, Galina, "The Italian American Cookbook."

How did we get from red-sauced pasta to risotto with wild mushrooms and white truffles?

Without Federal Express or DHL, those ingredients could not be made available. Plus, Americans were willing to pay for them. It all changed because of 24-hour, overnight delivery. For decades, even the best restaurateurs were saying, "Please don't blame me because it doesn't taste the same as in Italy."

Everything is "Tuscan" now. How come? What's the next wave?

Fashion shifted from Paris to Milan. All the designers were going. And everybody wanted to get into these little trattorias, all Tuscan. Tuscan food, frankly, is not the most interesting food in Italy by a long shot. There's no question that Southern Italian is becoming really exciting. Take places like Maialino and Morini [in Manhattan]. This is food from Rome and the South, very delicious food. I'd bet that a lot of restaurateurs in the U.S. are opening those kinds of restaurants.

Isn't it retro?

Absolutely. Italian-American food was basically [inspired by] Southern Italian food.

What about pizza?

Pizza is going to become a category all on its own, in non-Italian restaurants all over the United States. You could go to a restaurant in Greenville, South Carolina, and have pizza on the menu next to short ribs. As many pizzerias wanted to move up, they got rid of the pizza oven. They were a restaurant, not a "pizza joint." Now, the very best Italian restaurants are putting in pizza ovens at great cost.

Has Italian food become so mainstream that it could lose its identity?

Not so much lose it, but it could be that pan-Italian is coming, where everyone is serving the same 10 dishes. In Piedmont and Venice, they are still doing traditional dishes for those reasons. In Piedmont, there are no Tuscan, no Sicilian restaurants. We're open to change. Tomorrow afternoon, a Sardinian restaurant could be opening here.

Do you see Italian restaurants dipping in popularity?

No. But I'm a little afraid we may get to the point of surfeit. You already hear it: "Not another Italian restaurant!"

What's your favorite Italian dish?

I love spaghetti carbonara.

You write that well-traveled tourists demanded better Italian cooking here. Is that happening with any other cuisine?

I hear from people who come back from Bangkok. It's possible for [Thai cuisine] take hold . . . and Mexican has a shot.