Meals at home mask deep economic problems in Italy

[marmar]

Meals at home mask deep economic problems in Italy
Three quarters of Italians eat lunch at home, but family-friendly statistic hide fact that Italy’s economy is in deep trouble


ROME — Of all the statistics available on Italy and its varied economic problems, few are as eye-opening as the fact that at around 1 p.m. on any given day, three-quarters of the population will normally be sitting down to lunch in their own homes.

According to data from statistics agency ISTAT, lunch is the most important meal of the day for 68 per cent of Italians and 74.3 per cent usually eat it at home, a figure which has grown as a long recession has hit spending on food and eating out.

As anyone who has seen the shuttered afternoon streets of a small Italian town knows, it can be hard to get much done at lunchtime in Italy, even though many shops and businesses stay open until relatively late in the evening to compensate.

.......(snip).......

But behind the well-known importance of mealtimes, lies a picture of a country whose justly celebrated culinary tradition is matched by a crippling set of problems which have resisted reform and given it one of the most sluggish economies in the world for more than a decade. .......................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2013/09/03/lunch_hour_in_italy_serves_up_some_sour_economic_lessons.html

[onehandle]

1. We loved Italy, only second to France.

Can't wait until we can go back.

[marmar]

2. I've only been to Rome.....so I didn't experience much of Italy.

France and Spain (followed closely by the Netherlands) are my favorites.

[Nevernose]

3. The calamari in Venice will change your religion

As will Venoce itself. And go to the Uffizzi in Florence, check out the Birth of Venus, and cap it off with a serious Tuscan steak. Florence had sub-par gelato, though, IMHO.

I've only seen Barcelona in Spain. A world-class city, and I can't wait to see the rest. My spoken Spanish sucks, though: I realized that while I could read the signs that weren't in Catalonian, my Spanish is primarily the Spanish of Mexican gangbangers. I guess I knew that intellectually, but wasn't really clear until my halting negotiations in Barcelona tourist traps.

[lunasun]

4. article does mention other factors

The low level of employment is not the only thing that makes regular mealtimes at home possible for so many people. Another is the large number who work in small towns, often for tiny companies that close down during the lunch hour.

“Obviously Milan, Turin or Rome would have many more who eat away from home,” said Paolo Corvo, who teaches Sociology at University of Gastronomic Sciences, a specialist institute near the northern city of Turin.

“But Italy is made up of small towns and tradition, especially in the south where many women don’t have jobs but instead stay at home and value cooking for their husbands, plays a big part in this,” he said.


Not working for a big corp and eating a home cooked lunch at home with family tsk tsk...........