I love going to Italy. There is an attractiveness that goes beyond the beautiful sounds of their language, the rolling Tuscan hills and the way the Italian women seem to be able to wear absolutely anything and make it look a million dollars. It is the way they eat.
On a recent trip, I noticed the obvious contrast between how Italians dine and how we, in the UK, dine. In one sentence - Italians really enjoy their food. Let me break this down: they take real unadulterated pleasure in their food, not only in their cooking but also in the actual act of eating. The true Italian doesn’t count calories, no! What they care about is how fresh the food is; they put attention into their cooking like they are tending a newborn baby. They care about whether each mouthful takes them to heaven and back. Can we in the UK honestly say the same?
There is a scene in the film Eat Pray Love where Julia Roberts’ character, Liz, eats lunch outside at a typical pizzeria café. It is one of her first experiences of Italy and she orders a classic: ‘spaghetti al pomodoro’, or spaghetti in tomato sauce.
After the confines of a calorie-counting New York existence, we watch her absorb the whole experience with every inch of her faded soul. First she takes delight in her own company, treating herself to simply sitting down and eating lunch at a leisurely and more human pace – something many of us in this modern working world feel intensely guilty about. Which is just plain wrong.
Then comes the chorus - the indulgence of all the senses. The way she first lets her eyes take in the pleasing spirals of pasta, her nose evidently detecting the smell of the fresh basil and earthy tomatoes. Every forkful twists slowly around the freshly produced pasta; it is shot in such a way we almost instinctively know that she is virtually thanking the universe for such simple but exquisite pleasures. By then end of the meal, she could be purring like a cat that got the cream!
The point I’m making is not about what she is eating, but how she is eating it and the entire wholesome experience of the meal, which is really nothing complicated, in fact it is a very simple experience. By being totally in the moment of ‘just eating’ and letting your senses really explore it all, the body signals the gratifying satiated response which so many of us fail to receive. When you bolt a quick meal on the go it leaves us feeling maybe not as hungry but certainly not satisfied.
So what is eating really about? Amongst other things that I will no doubt discuss at a later stage, it is essentially about allowing yourself to be physically and emotionally nourished by what is a necessity for the body and a necessity to life - your food. Do it the Italian way – feed your soul by taking your time and taking delight in your food and your body will thank you for it.
Ciao for now!
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