Posted by fum on Saturday, May 13, 2017 in 2017 Blog post.

Eating meals in Sicily is very different than eating meals in America; meals here are meant to be savored and take hours at a time, while meals in America are usually a hurried affair between meetings. The first time we went to dinner by ourselves in Cefalu, we were already starving by the time we left the house. We sat down and they came around and asked us what we wanted to drink. When they asked us how many bottles of water we wanted, we all realized that water is not included in meals here as it is in America. Ordering the food itself involved a lot of pointing and attempting to decipher what the things on the menu were, since none of us can speak Italian well. After an amount of time that seemed like forever but in reality was probably about 10 minutes, the waiter brought us bread. Bread is one of my favorite foods, and I ended up having way too much of it since I was already so hungry.

The food eventually came out, but I enjoyed it less since I was already so full from a ton of bread. I realize now that self-restraint is crucial when it comes to bread, because the meal after the bread is always worth waiting for. After we finished our food, we sat around and waited for them to bring us the check. Little did we realize that in Sicily, they wouldn’t just bring us the check, we had to ask for it. This is a huge departure from typical American meals. In restaurants in America, they usually bring the check to you as soon as you take your last bite in order to free up more seats for other customers. In Italy, they give you plenty of time to enjoy your meal and talk with your friends and family afterwards as well. This extra time comes with an extra price in the form of a sitting charge, which is only euro or two but took me by surprise the first time.

We didn’t have multiple courses at our meal, but I noticed from the menu that Italian meals usually have an appetizer, a first course that consists of pasta, a second course that consists of meat or fish, and a dessert. This is also different from American meals, which usually would feature pasta or meat or fish as a main course rather than having two heavy dishes in a meal. This is a direct reflection of why meals in Italy take a long time; since both dishes are rather heavy, time is necessary to digest in between.

Though it is different from what I’m used to, I appreciate the sentiment of sharing and enjoying during Italian meals. While it’s not always feasible for a person with a busy schedule to eat for a few hours, now that I have less worries I think that I can get used to enjoying the good food and good company rather than simply eating to survive.