I’m a tourist and this is how I ‘accidentally’ made Italians hate me every time I went out – and it almost got me kicked out of a restaurant

A British man revealed the ‘surprising’ behaviours that annoyed Italians on his Tuscan holiday – and the one ‘innocent’ act that almost got him kicked out of a restaurant.

Ben Reid, from England, recently spent a few weeks on holiday around Italy and learned that many locals were quite specific about their food.

The English man was constantly chastised for making ‘adjustments’ to his meals – such as dipping his croissant in coffee, and pouring water into his espresso.

Ben eventually started ‘trolling’ strangers with bizarre acts by using a pair of scissors to cut spaghetti in a restaurant and eating pizza from the crust.

He also sprinkled parmesan over seafood and received a stern ‘talking to’ by a passer-by.

Ben Reid, from England, recently spent a few weeks on holiday around Italy and learned that many Italians were quite specific about their food

Ben posted a series of videos on his popular TikTok account about his ‘crimes against Italy’ and public reactions.

The first showed him seated at a café with a ham and cheese croissant and a latte.

Ben dipped his croissant in the coffee, eliciting a gasp from a man behind him who continued to ‘side-eye’ Ben’s peculiar choice of dip.

Another short clip saw him sprinkle parmesan over shrimp, which caused a man to stop in his tracks and look at Ben with disgust.

‘I’m counting my days,’ the British man joked.

Ben also jokingly defended his choice to eat pizza crust-first, and claimed that ‘a good crust is better than pizza itself’. 

However, the act that evoked the most condemnation was cutting spaghetti with scissors.

Two waiters actually went up to Ben and told him he ‘wasn’t allowed’ to consume his food like that.

‘You have to roll the pasta with your fork, you cannot cut it with scissors. People will think you’re an idiot,’ the waiter said, and then confiscated the scissors.

A British man revealed the ‘surprising’ behaviours that annoyed Italians on his Tuscan holiday – and the one ‘innocent’ trait that almost got him kicked out of a restaurant

Many sided with the Italian strangers.

‘As an Italian, I feel pain. Why would you take scissors to a restaurant?’ a man asked.

‘Gosh, the waiter looked like he was going to call the police on you,’ another wrote.

‘You’re risking your life by pulling these stunts,’ a third said. ‘This isn’t about being Italian, it’s about morality.’

But others couldn’t see the problem with Ben making his meals more suited to his tastes.

‘Let the man eat his food how he wants to,’ a woman wrote.

‘Poor guy, spaghetti is hard to eat,’ a second said. 

‘Adding water to espresso is a valid drink,’ a woman revealed. ‘It’s called an Americano.’