See Italian Food Rules by Ann Reavis. She’s brutal about it. Olive-oil dipping is definitely not Italian; they were puzzled and horrified when American tourists started asking for it.
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I think I remember that Wegmans has a little packet of chili oil packaged with one of their frozen pizzas.
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Yeah, it’s a California thing that became popular as a butter replacement when saturated fats became a concern for a lot of people. I like them both.
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Oh, I like it! Butter, too!
Yep, I did a quick Google yesterday.
It’s pretty common in Canada, too.
As someone who isn’t Italian, who has Italian godparents, half Italian cousins, has many Italian friends and acquaintances, and loves Italian food, and follows a few Italian food rules, in that I don’t have cappuccino after dinner, I don’t understand the quelle horreur response from Italians.
As if Italians haven’t bastardized their share of foods themselves 
Italians Mad at Food is a hilarious FB account and Twitter account.
https://twitter.com/ItalianComments
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That’s hysterical! I’m sure in my cooking life I’ve committed sins against many national cuisines, but to my knowledge I’ve never inflicted them on others. I love pineapple with many things, but not on a pizza.
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Ok… raw garlic, EVOO, parsley, basil says “pesto” to me, which is a delightful dip for bread/toast. Add finely chopped (or lightly blended/FP’d) roasted tomatoes, salt, pepper, parmesan, red chili flakes, and maybe a dash of wine vinegar and/or lemon juice seems pretty delicious to me.
A photo would be nice to determine if this was a more transparent or opaque sauce, but adjusting the above ingredients should give you the look you’re after. The fact that everything (except the tomatoes) is raw should let you throw this together a little at a time by taste.
And note that there are a number of recipes for roasted tomato pesto online for your perusal.
Good luck!
I’d love to send a photo but two problems:
I don’t have one but will get one the next time I’m there.
Also, I don’t know how to attach a photo on this sight, HELP!!
Thank you!
I’m guessing it’s something close to this: (which is delicious; I like using it on sandwiches)
Literally the first suggestion.
Apparently not.
It may not be authentic Italian, but it’s really flipping delicious.
I could easily make a meal out of crusty bread, some good butter or olive oil, and a glass of wine.
I’ve eaten extensively in Italian (Alpine to Turin to Adriatic…) restos, and without exception I can recall… bread and a dipping plate+pour bottle was standard fare…
along with a charge for the table cloth and silverware , , ,
a doubt a single one of them has ever been bottled and marketed. every place has it’s own. most good, some not so good, some really stellar.
Italian oriented restos in NL, SW, UK, GE, FR . . . . same.
in the USA, “independent” restos follow that custom/ practice -
“chain ‘Italian’” places…not so much.
imho.
