I have not traveled much around the world, but where I have been, through Europe, I have not seen so many overweight and obese people as in Romania. I like to look at people on the street, how they look, how they dress, what expression they have on their face, their posture.
In Italy I saw few overweight people and only a few obese ones. Few men had bellies, and women had no muffin-tops. Italians don’t get fat. Why?
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In this trip we had breakfast and dinner included. At breakfast there was a all-we-can-eat buffet, and at dinner we had a set menu, dishes cooked daily, Italian style. In the morning the table was three-quarters full of different croissants, plain or filled with several kinds of jam and chocolate, and fruitcakes, and only in one corner was a platter of some kind of salami, one of ham, one of cheese and a bowl with a arugula, iceberg lettuce and tomatoes salad. I don’t know how the pastries tasted like, but they looked great. Italians usually start their day with a croissant and a coffee.
Dinner was 2 courses, usually a vegetable soup and a pasta dish or a few pieces of chicken or turkey meat with sauce and a few salad leaves. I was looking around, my colleagues were kind of scrunching their noses 😊. For me, some dishes were cooked differently, corn or rice pasta instead of regular pasta, or the meat only had olive oil instead of flour sauce. I really liked the soups. One night it was minestrone and another night it was bean and pumpkin soup. The tastes were mild, natural, without many additions and spices. Small portions, much smaller than we are used to, to fill our stomachs to the brim. And at the end, a little piece of sweet cake, a small bowl of mixed fruit or two slices of melon.
They served the dishes with long breaks between them, slowly, without hurry, leaving us time to socialize, to sip another mouthful of wine or water. We, like the Romanians 😊, wanted more and quickly: what is taking so long? Wow, what a small portion, is that enough for me? We also asked for salt or pepper, many spices!
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For Italians, food is important. They eat slowly, without haste, small portions. And eat a lot of pasta, but in small quantities and without heavy and sweet sauces. Some sour tomato sauce and a little parmigiano on top is enough. If they want something sweet, they prefer fruit instead of sweets with a lot of sugar. A croissant for breakfast, as a stand-alone dish, is enough.
For them, mealtime is sacred. Businesses are usually closed at lunchtime so that they have time and mood to enjoy their food. They don’t eat a sandwich in a hurry on the corner of the office, with their eyes in the monitor. After they eat, they walk around a bit, then they start work again.
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We were leaving the hotel on our daily excursions very early in the morning. There were many people on the street at that time, of different ages, some of them looked around 80 years old, running or just walking briskly. They were going up and down the sloping streets of Naples. They didn’t have headphones in their ears, they were paying attention to what they were doing and looking at the surrounding scenery.
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In the area where we were, the Naples area and the Amalfi Coast, it’s very dirty. Tons of trash on the side of the road, in the city…everywhere. No one seems to care. Just like nobody respects pedestrian crossings. In vain I waited on the sidewalk, at the pedestrian crossing, for the cars to stop, they only stopped when I stepped in front of them. Then I said to myself: if they don’t care about the pedestrian crossing, why should I bother to find one? And I crossed where I felt like it. It was the same thing, the drivers stopped to let me pass, none stuck their head out the window to swear at me in Neapolitan. Scooters take pedestrians as cones, and they also have access to the so-called pedestrian zones. Everyone does what they like, in full understanding, and everything goes like clockwork. They don’t have the notion of the neighbor’s goat, everyone takes care of their own goat 😊. You don’t see them turning red with rage that the rest of the world isn’t lining up to their wish.
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The hotel where we stayed was a family business. The whole family worked there, in the hotel and in the little bar next door. On the third day of being there, the matron of the family, an 88-year-old woman, died. They honored her with great respect: they closed the bar for 2 days, placed a wreath and a commemorative poster at the entrance of the hotel, and all lost their cheerfulness from the first days. They were still doing their job, but you could see that they were suffering.
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So why aren’t Italians getting fat?
They eat little, eat quietly, home cooked, little fat, lots of pasta, but cooked al dente and no heavy sauces.
They respect the mealtimes, they don’t eat on the run, and after the meal they take a passeggiata, a little walk. That is, they don’t immediately start work and don’t lie down in bed.
They didn’t get mad in rage. They get a little angry, wave their hands a bit, say what they have to say and calm down.
Family ties are very strong in Italy.
They exercise a lot.
They do not stay on their phone. I didn’t see salespeople in stores with their phones in their hands during the downtime. If they don’t have work to do, they just sit and stare into the distance 😊.
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At the end I will tell you a story about a thing that happened in Naples. We were tired and wanted to sit down somewhere and have a coffee. The only free place we could find was a little bar with a dirty table and chairs full of cigarette butts. We got out some napkins, wiped the table and chairs, and sat down. All around us, as much trash as everywhere in Naples. We each ordered a different coffee, according to everyone’s taste: cappuccino, espresso, plain Americano, Americano with milk.
They brought us coffees, in nice clean cups, and a carafe of cold, mineral water on the house. They were the best coffees we’ve ever had! Everyone at the table agreed with that. Real coffee, as coffee should be at any fine dining restaurant, which has soft, comfortable and clean seats.
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We should not judge others by our standards when we go through other places, but look with an open mind and learn from them. We always have something to learn. In Italy I learned to give less importance to appearances and not to jump to conclusions. I also learned to enjoy a good coffee, without wanting more, simply to sit there, focusing on the taste of the coffee, not on the surrounding inconveniences. Replace the word “coffee” in the previous sentence with anything else: food, people, music, job, house, etc. and you will discover a philosophy of life that helps Italians live beautifully and free from prejudice. Intolerance, anger, hatred and mental rigidity are fattening 😊.
