2.02.2014

Italian traditions as explained by Albert Heijn
After the Christmas holidays, when traditions are more important than the question if we really enjoy what we do, we are just getting back into our daily rhythm. At the same time we start to forget about the best intentions we made to break with our (bad) habits. Therefore I thought I’ll give you a wake-up call before it is too late.

In the Netherlands Christmas 2013 was meant to be different than the others; no stress, just enjoying. A big supermarket (Albert Heijn) published a menu, which was called (freely translated) christmust instead of christmiss. Their monthly magazine was full of ‘building stones’ that helped the client to make delicious meals without spending hours in the kitchen. The only one suffering was the waste bin, which had to handle the huge amount of packaging materials that came with it. Maybe a new tradition?

Though most of the Italians are (or at least seem) traditional, the same Dutch supermarket recently used every known clichĂ© for their special ‘Italian weeks’. Before you continue to read, I advise you to check it out yourself following this link to their new commercial.

I know of Italian people that still visit their parents weekly, even though they have to travel over two hours to arrive there. I know that Italians like their coffee strong after 11 o’clock. I also know that Italians are proud of their cucina and that they will not hesitate to fill-up their Ryanair suitcases with litres of olive oil from their hometown because it is much better than the one you get at the supermarket up north.  But I also know that the before mentioned commercial is just telling a romantic story which we Dutch (and also others from outside Italy) like to believe in, but which is true only for a tiny bit.

Tradition seems less obvious in other countries. In the tv program about farmers I talked about last week one of the potential partners asked the farmer to go for some typical food of his home country, Canada. I am almost embarrassed to say they ended up in a KFC like fast-food restaurant! How romantic. No wonder he could not convince the girl to fall in love with him….

Also last week I read a post by an American living in Paris on the disappearance of farmers on the Parisian farmers market. While in America these markets become bigger as a response to the food scandals, health situations and changing economy the French ones seem to lose the competition from the super- or hypermarches making shopping much easier and less time consuming. Another tradition gone.

But back to the Italians and the Dutch publicity. Two things need to be addressed. On one hand the Italians really hold on to their traditions: the constant rhythm of three meals a day, clearly divided in sweet stuff in the morning, a lot in the afternoon and something light before bedtime, the delicacies that belong to specific festivities like the chiacchiere for carnival and the locality of certain dishes like the ragĂą from Bologna.

On the other hand Italians also do enjoy new things. Also Italians like to travel, explore new countries and cultures and thus also new foods. Last year, Milan ‘suffered’ from a hype about ‘American’ burger restaurants and this year it seems like every week a new ‘ramen’ restaurant is opened. The Italians start to appreciate new flavours but the question is how original these places are.

Then it is true (now I really come back to the publicity) that there is a big difference between life in cities and life on the countryside. In the country people live more slow, grow their own food and have less amenities than in cities. I am sure it is the people living here that keep the traditions of Italians truly alive, while the citizens rather leave this behind and act like real cosmopolitans. Even though sometimes even they love to live thislife as well.

One beautiful tradition however, which was forgotten about but comes back now, especially in cities, is the so called caffè spospeso. This is not a type of coffee, but a way to support the less fortunate in society. If you go for a caffè spospeso it means to you take one coffee in a bar but pay for two. The extra coffee is meant for the person who cannot afford it. Such a small gesture, but very social, don’t you think? Some traditions are worth maintaining or re-introducing, even if you are a cosmopolitan.