There are some differences in living habits between the US and Italy that are just plain hard to get used to. For us, coming back to the States for a while, it is very hard to get used to the fact that most people eat dinner at 6 o’clock, or earlier. There’s a restaurant down the street from us here, and when I drove by at 4:45 yesterday evening the parking lot was jammed with cars. Everyone was there for a 5 o’clock dinner (All You Can Eat Fish Fry on Wednesdays and Fridays – another concept that would be foreign and bizarre to an Italian restaurateur).
For us, 5 o’clock is the Hour of Tea, 6 o’clock is the Hour of Drink-n-Snack, 7 o’clock is the Hour of Dinner Preparation and 8 o’clock is the Dinner Hour. We’ve just gotten used to it that way, because that’s the dinner hour in Italy. In fact, away from the main tourist cities you would be hard pressed to find a restaurant that opens its doors before 8 p.m., or perhaps 7:30.
This eating schedule has a ripple effect. Last weekend my friend Margaret and I went to a play at the ASU Gammage Hall – the ‘darkly comic’ ‘August: Osage County‘ by Tracy Letts (it was great – we laughed and groaned). What time did it start? 7 p.m.! The week before the Captain and I went to a delightful John O’Conor piano recital down the street (glorious); it started at 7:30. That would never happen in Italy! When would one eat??! Typically in Italy the cultural events are before dinner, starting at 4, 5, or even 6 p.m., or after dinner, starting at 9 or 9:30 p.m.
Why the difference? I think (and this is pure conjecture on my part) that the early eating habits in Arizona are due to the fact that there are so many mid-western transplants here. On a big mid-western farm you might get up with the sun and have a cup of coffee and a snack. Then you might work for a few hours and stop mid-morning for an enormous breakfast. Then you would work again until the sun got low (5 o’clock?) when it would be time for a hearty dinner. Even though fewer and fewer people work on farms, I think the early eating habit has persisted.
In Italy the large meal was typically eaten mid-day with an hour or two of rest following. Then work continued until the evening, when a much smaller meal (minestrone?) was eaten. That is changing somewhat, especially in the large cities, as Italy becomes more an Office Culture. But most stores and businesses are still closed mid-day and then are open again from 3:30 or 4 until 7:30 or 8, at which point it is time for dinner.
I don’t much care for the late night events any more, but it is delightful to go to a wonderful concert at 5 p.m., come out at 6:30 or 7, take a stroll through the town, find a good restaurant and sit down for a fine meal at 8 or so, a pleasure we miss when we’re in the U.S.
So, why the Dinner at Eight video above? Well, the title is appropriate, and as a librarian I just couldn’t resist sharing Jean Harlow’s book review. I bet everyone would like to be a member of her book club!
An Ex-Expatriate 
I agree that at dinner in the USA I often feel like I am lunching.
I’m still programmed to be starving at 6:30 (after having been merely hungry at 2 and 4, and 11 a.m. The great thing about Italy is you’re never far from something wonderful to eat…
I didn’t know you were a librarian (did I?). Me too!
My book club is nothing like Jean’s!
Ciao! And thanks for stopping by my blog. Your comment made me realize I didn’t mention one of man’s contributions to world happiness and that’s the amazing focaccia I learned about in Camogli and Santa Margherita Ligure! Uber-thin and filled with delicious molten cheese. A messy affair and tasty one too.
Lovely to meet you.
Come back soon
Eleonora
Thank you for dropping by, and I will surely be back at algio olio – I love your blog. Yeah – Ligurian focaccia – heavenly!
I figure it’s all a matter of what you learned from your Mama – combined with the culture in which you find yourself living. Same goes for taste in the food itself.
Living in the south, I’m surrounded by people who eat dinner at 5PM or 5:30PM, adore fried food of every sort – even vegetables and ice cream! I generally find it unpalatable, too oily and heavy in the stomach for hours after eating (even the light, crisp stuff – although I’ll admit to it’s deliciousness on the way down).
We grew up eating at 6PM, so we still eat at 6PM – we didn’t eat fried food, so we don’t eat fried food now. My southern friends aren’t necessarily made comfortable by these choices. I can’t say that it’s any better than eating at 8PM, except if you have to get up and go to work the next day, it makes for a better sleep.
Probably whatever dining habits your lifestyle allows and gives you greatest pleasure will provide you the greatest nourishment, both physical and emotional. Just remember to chew slowly! (-:
You’re right, I’m sure – it’s all a question of what one is accustomed to. But people can change their habits and tastes, I think. It just takes a while…
“That’s something you need never to worry about…” – hilarious!
Whenever I go back for a visit, I always need a few days to adjust to the dinner hour. The greatest shocker, however, was the time my brother started preparing dinner just before lunch! He said that he liked to prepare it early to “get it out of the way”, then warm it up later for a no-fuss meal. If you wonder what becomes of lunch, it is usually leftovers from last night’s dinner (hooray for no-fuss!) or a plate lunch take-out from the local diner.
Hmmmm. Sometimes we start cooking before lunch (and I bet you do too) – but only because whatever we’re making needs either a lot of cooking time or a whole lot of preparation. Sometimes I think doing the cooking is more pleasurable than the eating of same. Then there are the busy people who make a huge pot of something on Sunday and eat it for supper all week long.