Hi everyone and welcome back to Global Village，欢迎回来《小酒馆·大世界》。

In the previous episode, we had two Italian girls in the studio, we talked to Carlotta and Miky about their experience in China, and in today’s episode, we’re gonna continue to share our experiences in other cultures.

Another thing that I found to be kind of a culture shock in Italy, before the pandemic, I used to go to Italy every year, love the food, love the wine, pretty much cannot go wrong.

But the first time I think I went to Italy because I stayed there for a few weeks, I rented like a holiday rental, and then I usually just went out for dinner, but one day I was quite tired. So I wanted to just get a takeaway, but obviously I don’t know any apps that I can understand.

So I went out to a neighborhood restaurant that I know it's good, I've eaten there, so I went there and I said, can I order this to go? I'll take a bag, take a sort of package to go.

They look at me as if I were mad; I was asking some random questions. They're like, no, sorry, we don't do takeaway.

Sure you do takeaway, how about I bring my own plate? It’s non-negotiable, I had to go to at least 4 restaurants to eventually find a place that did that. Is that a thing in Italy like restaurants don't allow you to order takeaway?

There's only one kind of takeaway which is pizza. Anything else is not take away…

Because for us, food is something you enjoy slowly, you take your time to eat. You eat it as… like fresh, you don’t warm it up. You just enjoy, it’s like a moment you take for yourself, it’s not just something you grab on the way to go home and just you have it in a rush. And I guess that's part of the reason why…

It's almost like a slow life like this sort of enjoyment.

Yeah, I guess some restaurants are starting to do that, mainly maybe for lunch, but still is not that common, you just eat at the restaurant.

And it's also not common to have a doggy bag 就是打包 it's not a thing in Italy.

No, because it's unpolite, like if you order something, then you kind of have to finish what you have ordered, so it's not polite to have leftovers.

Even in restaurant?

Even in restaurant, yes.

I suppose it's just very different culture because like you said, we order for a group of people, we'd rather order more than not enough for people. That's why we have a lot of leftovers. But if you're only ordering for yourself, there's not likely to be that much.

You kind of know your limits. So you order what you can eat most of the times at least.

Carlotta, I'm sure you lived in the UK, you've got asked this question before, and no offense to anyone who is from Britain but you know when it comes to food, everyone knows Italy is one of the food capitals in the world, but in the same breath, everyone complains about food in the UK, so how did you feel when you moved from Italy, the food heaven to the UK, did you find it difficult?

I wouldn't say difficult. It was revealing I would say. It was very interesting. Because I was 18 when I moved to the UK, I didn't really know how to cook, but I had to learn.

So I actually learned how to cook while I was in the UK, but I was cooking Italian food of course, and then I realized how lucky I was having um… like being raised in Italy where everything tastes so great.

So I started like trying to replicate what was the food that I used to have at home in the UK, and I could see that my friends and my classmates they were super excited about it. And I was like… this is normal, normal for me. So I realize how great Italian food was only when I moved abroad to be honest. And then I learned how to cook it, and I was always hosting like house parties.

People were super excited.

Yeah, they did.

By the way, even your business that you're starting right now, the cooking is also one element of it; teaching like Italian recipes, Italian cooking, right?

Yeah, as you said, Italian food is one of the best in the world and we're not just saying it because we're Italian, but I guess most people would agree with us, so…

I think it's the same. If you ask a Chinese, they would also say Chinese food is the best, which I think come on, it's not wrong. Italian and Chinese food pretty much dominating the world anywhere you go. You guarante you can find Italian food, Chinese food.

Yeah, so what we're trying to do is just share this food culture with other people.

Yeah, we can easily teach how to make simple food or just cook with the guest like a whole dinner.

Like an event thing.

Yeah. Exactly

We bring Italy to your house that’s how we would like to say it.

That sounds amazing. In the future definitely we'll see how we can work this… maybe we can invite both Carlotta and Miky to give us a cooking show or like a cooking lesson or we do an event.

But now so moving away from this whole experience of being like the popular chef for your classmates in the UK, what about Miky? So Miky, you went to basically the south of the United States.

Yeah, I was in Georgia.

And there's a lot of Italian influence in America in general, so they have their own version of Italian food, is that authentic to you?

Well, in fact I wasn't in an Italian family, so they were cooking Italian dishes that weren’t really Italian to me.

Like what?

Like Alfredo pasta, which doesn't even exist in Italy.

Alfredo sounds very tired to me.

I know. Americans cheated.

And they pretend it's Italian, but it’s not Italian. They took the Alfredo name, but it's not Italian. I've never had that in anyway.

I don’t know anyone cook Alfredo in Italy.

Yeah, it's weird.

But still, I could say that it tastes good, just wasn't real Italian. It was good.

One thing that I've noticed about the Italian or the American version of Italian food is not just that they made up their own, but it's also the portion of it.

True.

Let's say lasagna,千层面for an example. I love lasagna, I cook it as well. But when you think about the American idea of lasagna, it’s always a huge portion and people can go back for seconds.

But I was amazed once I had lunch or dinner with an Italian friend, a big guy and we had the Italian style lasagna, which is like a very small, just smaller than my hand, is that normal in Italy?

It's normal, that's a normal portion in Italy. Pasta usually is around 80 grams.

80 grams is not a lot.

It's the portion that will nourish you and give you the experience of the food.

I see.

And did you find that everything was bigger in America?

It was huge. It wasn't just big for me. It was huge. Everything was really big, especially coke, very good.

That's the thing. Americans do drink a lot of coke.

Yeah.

But what about in Italy, what do people drink usually when they're having lunch or dinner.

Wine.

Water.

Is wine pretty much a standard… everyone's drinking wine even at lunch?

Sometimes, we wouldn't say all the time.

But it depends on what kind of lunch you have, if you have a quick lunch, no, you don't.

But again, if it's like the Christmas lunch, for sure, you have to drink wine, there's wine.

Let's say kids would order coke or this kind of soft drinks.

But there's not the idea of competitive drinking, you're not trying to drink…

You drink to enjoy it, not to get drunk.

It's actually not good to be drunk.

If you really space it out, have a very long dinner or long lunch, then it's not that easy to get drunk because you really pace yourself.

And then you eat a lot so you can compensate.

Okay, and then one more thing, if you get let's just say you get invited to a dinner party, what's good to bring, you invite me to your home, for example, you say you're gonna cook. You said earlier I can bring food like in some situations, but in this situation perhaps…

Maybe if it's the first time I invite you over, maybe it's not appropriate to bring food.

It's almost like your cooking is gonna suck, I'm gonna bring my own.

Yeah. God. Maybe many people think that.

But maybe the dessert would be okay would be acceptable and I would make a dessert also.

So we would have to…

You should bring… because you're a woman, you should bring flowers but in a vase, or…

So there's a difference. If I were a man or a woman, there's a difference.

If you're a man, you should send me flowers and not bring them.

That is very interesting, even if we're not like dating, I'm just a friend.

Yeah, especially friends, or family members.

So if I were a man, I need to send you flowers before I arrive.

Yeah, in the afternoon, with a message, like a small card.

So just send it by delivery, like ask a delivery guy to send you a bouquet of flower.

As for a woman, I have to bring flowers but not in a bouquet, in a vase.

Yes.

Like a small plant or something.

Because if you bring me the plant without the vase, then I am the host and then I have to take time to put them in water. So I would not be with you that would be rude. But if it's a vase, I just put the vase here, then we enjoy the time together.

Okay, that sounds… I never knew that. So maybe I have made mistakes before.

It's okay.

But the drinks, the wine…

You could bring drinks, also that's really…

But do we get to drink it together?

No, you shouldn't drink it. The host shouldn't open it. What if the wine doesn't taste good, then it’s going to embarrass the guest.

So maybe it's only good if you're only inviting me, then we probably can drink the wine I brought?

Yeah, because…

If you really want to…

You will prepared the wine that you've already prepared to serve…

Because we pair wines with what we cooked, so that's also another thing.

Of course, yeah, I'm truly talking to foodies here.

All right, that's a little bit of cross-cultural experience with food and cooking and table manners.

For our listeners, if you had experience of living in other cultures, what do you think about food and all of these culture shock that you've experienced or interesting stories you have, share with us in the comment section.

Thank you, thank you girls for coming to the studio. For sure we're gonna do more episodes on different aspects of Italian life.

Thank you. Grazie.

Grazie.

Ciao a Tutti.

We'll see you next time. Bye.

Ciao Ciao.

Ciao Ciao.