The Polite Way Michael Symon Dealt With A Twitter Troll About Italian Food

Chef Michael Symon is known to be very proud of the ways in which his Greek and Italian heritage influence his cooking. The public figure also tends to be quite clear about his opinions, as shown when he banned former President Donald Trump from eating at any of his restaurants, for example (via Eater).

Nevertheless, Symon is generally courteous in his internet discourse, as was the case when the celebrity chef recently chimed in on a Twitter conversation about gnocchi-making methods. In a tweet directed at the Iron Chef, user Deborah Demilio said that gnocchi should be made with potatoes, not ricotta, to which Symon said that different types of gnocchi exist. The user responded a second time, "In old school Italian New Jersey a gnocchi is made with potatoes and everything else is good but not a gnocchi lol" (via Twitter). One supportive commenter wasn't about to have Demilio discount Symon's knowledge of Italian food, tweeting that Symon is "a James Beard winning chef with a degree from the Culinary Institute of America." The user, @thatmattobrien, added to Demilio, "You're from New Jersey. He wins. By a lot. Go try to teach LeBron to play basketball next."

In response to @thatmattobrien's tweet, Symon was understanding of Demilio's urge to correct him about gnocchi, saying, "It's totally fine .. people have strong opinions on food .. especially when it's Italian." He went on to explain, however, that there's a lot more to Italian food than what is eaten in places like New Jersey. "Italian American food is so different from the food actually found in Italy though .. where chicken parm doesn't even exist..lol," he said. Symon does have a point. Among the "Italian" foods that aren't served in Italy is also the ubiquitous pepperoni pizza.

As for the original debate about gnocchi, Symon said that there is no single right way to make it, as there are several versions depending on the region of Italy (via Twitter). This is confirmed by a list of different Italian gnocchi recipes by Great Italian Chefs, which includes variations with pumpkin and ricotta. Considering the fact that a Twitter user tried to call him wrong about a subject he knows a lot about, Symon's polite response commands a lot of respect — something we can all learn from when having disagreements on social media.