Phew! We are officially into the New Year — 2007! The holidays were a whirlwind. I came across this funny article in an Italian magazine called Dimagrire. In it, they interviewed about 1,000 Italians and found that these are the top 10 things that they hate most about holiday family celebrations (Holidays include Christmas eve, Christmas day, New Year’s Eve also known as San Silvestro, New Year’s Day, the night before The Epiphany, and The Epiphany on January 6th.)
10. The nagging of your mother, or aunts, or mother-in-law if you leave even a crumb of bread reminding you that babies in Africa are dying of starvation.
9. The nonexistent pause between lunch and dinner because there are so many courses to partake of for the holidays. By the time you finish the courses for lunch, its time to start dinner.
8. The absolute nonexistence of etiquette after the second glass of wine.
7. The obligation to act like you still like your favorite childhood dish. You can be sure your mother or one of your aunts will prepare this.
6. Having to remain at the table even when you are finished eating.
5. Screaming babies always grabbing at your legs.
4. The obligation to complement the culinary talents of your mother-in-law for the dishes she made.
3. The feeling that you are obligated to taste everything that everyone brings to eat and comment on how wonderful it is.
2. Rarely seen family members that want to discuss all their new health problems for the year. (There are many family members you only see during the Christmas holidays.)
And the number one thing Italians hate MOST about the holidays?
1. The over abundant menu their mother prepares. Since Italian mothers love to cook — especially when they have an audience to sample the dishes they’ve prepared — they tend to double or even triple the amount of courses they would normally make for a special dinner. One can end up with as many as 10 courses for a special holiday family meal!
Here are some pictures of Tagliacozzo, the town next to where I am currently staying.? This town is in the mountains of Abruzzo and is where my great-great-grandparents kept their vineyard.
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Also, I am hosting a forum on MyFitnessTrainer.com on healthy eating using the Mediterranean diet in promotion of their Fit America contest! Join me in the forums to talk about healthy eating the Italian way. Their contest is until February 28th, so join today!
