Let's Not Do Lunch

I can't say that all Italians are obsessed with lunch, afterall, I know one that eats a banana every day and another that's happy with crackers, cheese and a little nap on his office floor. As for the rest, they're obsessed with lunch.

Workmen that can't make it home for Mom or Grandma's pasta pay more than an hour's wage for a proper meal at a restuarant. Kids that work at summer camp would rather ride their bikes home in the hot sun than eat a sandwich in a cool park. And on a road trip where I can drive (a stick shift), eat, drink and even swallow, my passengers prefer a picnic pause.

Last week I was trying to coordinate a visit with a friend. She was being vague about her arrival time so I pressed her for details to which she curtly replied, "Well it's obvious I'll either be coming before 12.00 or after 14.30 because that's your time to enjoy lunch."  It's hard to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and potato chips stretch that long. I could fly to Paris in the two and half hours she thinks I should be enjoying my lunch.

I'm sure it looks to you like LA DOLCE VITA when you see it in an Italian film and I, too, love a nice, long lunch with a friend in the piazza from time to time. But it's the daily cooking, eating, digesting, drinking coffee, and taking a little rest that I can live without. Seeing that it's cultural and I'm in Rome (or pretty darn close) I sometimes do (but most times don't) as the Romans do...I just shut up and eat (no matter how long it takes).