Mutti is much better, in my opinion, even though Pomi is probably one of the best easily available in America. Many of the canned Italian imports, like Cento, can be excellent. In my recollection, Cento is a common brand in an Italian deli in a big American city.
Well, in Italy a risotto MUST have rice to be a risotto, but it also refers to the way the rice is cooked: in a shallow pan, with continuous applications of liquid, stirred, etc. There are other rice dishes in Italy that are not cooked like a risotto and are not called risotti. But an Italian term like pesto refers to using a pestle to create a mash of ingredients. Many non-Italians have come think of “pesto” as meaning basil sauce, but that is only one kind of pesto in Italy. There are also pesto sauces made with walnuts and marjoram, for instance. And the word “passata” is like that, and simply means (roughly) the equivalent of “strained” or “pureed” or “sieved” foods.
However, on American menus/products I now see Italian terms applied to preparations of food that would be rather incomprehensible in Italy – like a “cauliflower risotto” without any rice in it, but rather grain-sized bits of cauliflower. Or “zucchini spaghetti” made with a spiralizer that has no pasta at all in the dish. Every now and then in Italy you will see creative language in trendy restaurants, things like “fegato lollipop” (rounds of grilled calves liver on a stick) but most of the time, no.
I think I am correct in saying that all canned tomatoes must be cooked to some extent to be canned at all. But they are not long-cooked, like a pre-made supermarket pasta sauce, and therefore the flavor of the tomato product, straight out of the can/jar, should be bright, more like a tomato juice.
