My friend Claudia (a favorite local Roman guide among our tour groups) is spending a month in Seattle. She’s enjoying an extensive — and romantic — private tour with one of our ace American guides. They came over to our house for dinner, and I enjoyed quizzing her on culture shock an Italian might experience in the USA.
Claudia’s thoughts reminded me that a good guide is a keen observer of cultures. While she enjoys America immensely, she does have a few challenges here. Here’s a review of Claudia’s comments (the best I can recall them) as she settled into American cultural soil this month:
“In America, the cityscape leaves me feeling isolated. Buildings of steel and cement have no stories to tell. When alone in a city with a long history (such as Rome), your imagination keeps you company.”
“We Italians relate to urban space. American cities seem to be grid after grid…without public squares. Piazzas are fundamental to Italian life. At the piazza, you can imagine life in the past. Yes, with piazzas filled with people, I feel connected…not lonely. Sure, you have lots of people — but they are always going someplace.” (Her boyfriend replied, “Yes, in America, people work.”)
Claudia is loving the food here. Her favorites include the BLT sandwich and “chili soup.” While we lack people-filled piazzas, Claudia is charmed by our breakfast culture and that we “meet for breakfast.” You would never see families “going out for breakfast” in Italy. And she had never encountered a waffle.
After eating Italian in Seattle, it seems clear to Claudia that the typical American notion of “Italian food” is heavily influenced by peasant village Sicilian food (tomato sauce, big meatballs, and spumoni ice cream). It was the poor people who left Italy in droves for America, and they took with them not Italy’s high cuisine, but their peasant cuisine.
After plenty of eating out in Seattle, Claudia and her boyfriend developed a game. She claims that the average number of ingredients in an American restaurant salad or pasta is 8 or 10, while in Italy the average salad or pasta has only 4 or 5 ingredients. And she can’t understand our heavily flavored dressings. “If your lettuce and tomato are good, why cover it up with a heavy dressing? We use only oil and vinegar.” When I tried to defend the fancy dishes as complex, she said, “Perhaps ‘jumbled’ is a better word.”
Claudia’s favorite souvenir so far: a five-pound block of cheddar cheese from Costco. A favorite experience: going to a bingo parlor and learning to use a dauber. A big surprise: Going to an American football game and finding that they stop play to make time for TV commercials. “That would be unthinkable in Europe.” Politically these days, Italy is cynical and fatalistic. (They are preparing to see Silvio Berlusconi — an openly corrupt right-winger who makes GWB seem meek and mild — return to power.) Just waiting in line to get into an Obama rally, Claudia felt America was a country awakening. Seeing families together at a political rally astounded her, as she’d never see that in Italy. Claudia’s father cannot understand the appeal of a guy he calls “Alabama” — a man with charisma and vision, but little experience.
To Claudia, her father is emblematic of Italy’s political doldrums: “In Italy, there’s no renewal. We have the same old faces, over and over again. So it doesn’t surprise me that Berlusconi is back.”
You have totally outdone yourself on this post…what a great post. This was so insightful and left me wishing I could meet Claudia. It’s amazing how we have bastardized Italian culture. Great Great post
Rick Very very interesting post, educational and fascinating to see another person’s point of view. You have painted a picture in a way which is what I like about your best posts.================================================== Originally born in Europe I always compared the N. American culture to Europe and felt lucky to be able to see the differences as well as similarities. Both experiences added to my life.
Rick, thanks for sharing a European perspective on America. Funny what a real Italian thinks of Italian food here. However, I have a couple of comments/questions not sure you will answer on here but will throw them out anyways. First, I can’t tell from your blog but did Claudia bring her boy friend with her from Italy? Is he a boy friend or boyfriend? And the reason I ask is due to the fact I am leading up to my last question. Is the boyfriend the American guide showing her around and if so, PLEASE don’t tell me it’s Ben!!!! I know he loves Italy and would love to find an Italian wife as he loves the women there. So this post had me curious about a whole lot more than just cultural differences. So I apologize for digressing! And if it is Ben, tell him I said hello. He should remember me from the Best of Europe and his first Eastern Europe tours.
Fantastic. Now that is a excellent blog post. For all of us who have been to Europe many times we notice more and more how America is different from the rest of the world. I agree with Claudia’s description of some American cities. Here in Atlanta there is a new skyscraper going up every other day. Only us locals know what was there before. They all may look cool and sharp but they lack life. Fred in Atlanta
the typical American notion of “Italian food†is heavily influenced by peasant village Sicilian food (like tomato sauce with big meat balls and spumoni ice cream). I have always suspected this to be true, but since Italy is one of the few places in Europe I have not visited, I could never verify it. All the more reason to laugh at those ridiculous Olive Garden commercials.
For my high school prom, my boyfriend and I went to an upscale Italian restaurant in Dallas. I was expecting Sicilian peasant food. What I got was real Italian cuisine and being 18 years old, I was not able to fully appreciate it. It isn’t all Maccaroni Grill and Olive Garden in the states! Now, at 44, I am heading to Italy in a week and looking forward to sampling the best Italy has to offer and I have gleaned some great restaurant recommendations from the Graffiti Wall. I can’t wait!
I had pretty hard time with the Italian food when I first came over. Then I found out that what I was used to, was northern Italian food and what they have here is southern Italian food. I have yet to find decent lasagne in America so I have to makei it myself. I also had to get used to Mexican food – I had never eaten it before I came to America. Now I love it!
What a delightful blog! I love the European pedestrian plazas I find myself pointing out places in my area that should be converted to pedestrian plazas. Most traditional American food is peasant food. It was the poor people who immigrated to America seeking their fortunes and freedoms and brought with them their cuisine. Welcome Claudia to America and Seattle is a wonderful place for your tour!
Rick, yes, I must repeat you have outdone your blog again. Insight from also one of my favorite local roman guides-during three RS tours (city tour twice, once, best of europe)-through the amazing history, with wonderful commentary, frosted roma’s cake an inch deep. Seeing us from her viewpoint reconfirms the necessity of travel in a true full life. larry from springfield.
Fascinating read. It’s great when we can understand and celebrate our differences, as opposed to criticizing those same differences. However, without knowing Claudia, I interpret her comments as “riding the fence” between celebration and criticism. No doubt I’m overreacting….
Thanks Rick – I love Claudia comment about the piazza and the old architecture working with your imagination to keep you company! As a student of Architecture and love of history – I find that a great way of expressing what many people probably feel but never quite could explain! thanks – Would love to hear more “tales from the kitchen table” from your other guests as they visit in the future!
I agree with all, a fantastic post. I particularly enjoyed Claudia’s insight on Italian food in the US.
Rick I agree with Tom more stories from around the kitchen table. I particularly remember in an old newsletter about a older Scottish guide coming to visit during the review week when you still had the meetings in Seattle. He apparently was walking around and asked a cop where he could find some good crack (talk)…I love those stories. Fred and I are from the same neck of the woods and I HATE going into Atlanta there is no southern charm about the place anymore it’s all steel and concrete.
It’s refreshing to hear a European’s view on visiting here. I hope Claudia enjoys her visit.
I agree with Claudia’s father — why are so many people interested in “alabama” who lacks experience as compared to any of the republican runners? I am surprised to see that Claudia even liked the Costco cheese – hilarious.
which Italian films does Claudia most want Americans to see or most want most Americans to see or most want most Americans to see most…many thanks
I was wondering what brand of cheese Claudia liked at Costco. I am not aware of 5# blocks. However, one of the best cheeses in the world (imo) is sold at Costco — Tillamook Extra Sharp black label cheese. It is really hard to beat!
Mr. Steves you like to recklessly throw around meaningless diatribe, however you’re incorrect, politically Silvio Berlusconi is considered center right as Romano Prodi is center left. That does not make Prodi an extreme leftist. For the record; Mr. Berlusconi has had his share of legal issues which wouldn’t be considered unusual for someone of his wealth. He has been fully acquitted on each of them. Apparently you think of him as corrupt because he considers the United States as a friend and you think otherwise.
Tell Claudia to swing by Chicago–we have a piazza-like place at Daley Center, with the famous Picasso sculpture; Other things that serve a piazza purpose include Millenium and Grant Parks, Buckingham Fountain, and oh yeah, the lakefront. It’s been a hard winter, though. She might want to wait until May or June. :)
I can relate to what Claudia says about how our buildings “don’t tell a story” however our buildings are still tiny babies in comparison to the millenia-old ones in her city. Perhaps in a couple hundred years our skyscrapers will tell of the wealth and grandeur of our business and technological culture.
Great post. Totally agree with Claudia about lack of street life – when I came back to the US after several months of traveling in Asia, where it sometimes seems that everyone lives in the streets, I was really struck by how dead my town seemed. Here we spend our lives indoors, in our cars and in the malls. I’ve also noticed the stress on tomato sauces in Italian restaurants here – I grew up in England where the Italian restaurants have a different menu – and I’m still trying to find a restaurant in the US that will serve a proper zabaglione. (I have been known to make that myself, in desperation.) And as someone who grew up with a parliamentary system, I have to say that in the UK likely both Clinton and Obama, but certainly Obama, would still be learning their trade on the back benches, not be in the running for Prime Minister.
You know, instead of Piazza’s, we have sports complexes where families gather to watch their children play soccer, baseball, softball or football. Or, in the summertime, at swimming pools. We have greenspace (pocket parks, hike and bike trails, large parks like Zilker in Austin or Golden Gate in San Francisco or Central Park in NYC) and in some cities, we do have pedestrian-only areas. Boulder, for example. Also, we DO have some architecture that pre-dates the steel structures that abound in the larger cities. The Alamo still stands in San Antonio, Washington DC and Colonial Williamsburg have buildings from the 17th and 18th centuries, Pueblos still exist in Canyon de Chelly (though no longer occupied) and throughout the west there are Spanish adobe churches still in use that date to the colonial period. Judging the US by a visit to one city is much like judging all of Europe by a visit to one city there. Consider the fact that after WWII, Frankfurt chose to re-build in the modern style while Munich chose to re-build the buildings as they existed before the bombing. Could either city be said to define Europe? I have lived in a lot of different places in the US (small town Texas, big city Texas, Phoenix, San Francisico, the Colorado rockies, small city Kansas and Washington DC) and the social norms range from driving everywhere to walking or using public transport, from knowing your neighbors well to not wanting to have any more contact with other people than necessary (the Rockies–mountain people are just plain different). I’ve been a moderate liberal among both extreme left liberals and extreme right wingers (sometimes within my own family!) and I can see points on both sides.
cont. I had the opportunity to see my country through the eyes of a young German man who traveled from Colorado to Florida and learned that Southern Hospitality still exists and even will be extended to a long-haired, tatooed stranger with a funny accent. My husband survived the King rioting in LA through the kindness of Latino strangers who spirited him out of a dangerous area in floor of their car. When my cat was hit and killed a few days after I had moved in to an apartment in Oakland, CA, my black neighbors who found him in the street came to my door to let me know because they knew the cat was was as new to the neighborhood as I was and figured he must be mine. As someone who had never lived among blacks, that they would care enough to do that was a revelation for a southern white girl. Across the street, the neighbors I had only met in passing helped me bury my cat under a beautiful flowering shrub in their yard. In other words, you cannot distill the United States into a single sound bite or the way of life folks in one small area of the country and even in crowded cities, people will take note of what is happening around them.
Rick, I assume the Claudia you are referring to is the same Claudia who we had the pleasure of meeting while in Lucca on our Village Italy trip in 2006. Claudia took us to some of the nearby villas and told us about the families that lived there. Very interesting, as well as very entertaining! Because of Claudia, we also had the opportunity to sit down and visit with one of her friends who lived at one of the villas. Our villa tour ended by going to a nearby restaurant and having a wonderful lunch that Claudia selected for us. (I believe I still have the menu she had printed for our lunch.) In all of my travels to Europe, this was definitely one day that stands out. Rick, say hi to Claudia for us! I hope she has a wonderful trip while visiting the U.S.
This has been an enlightening and uplifting thread with lots of great input. I feel like I am right there when are talking to her and her dad and so glad they got to see our political system at work. I was over in Paris a few weeks ago and people are following the primaries very closely so there was lots to talk about. Please keep more of these coming they are wonderful. I also loved the Costo cheese blurb and if meatballs are peasant food well I’m glad they brought it with them. Thanks for sharing!!
Great post, Rick! I love reading about travelers to our country, and how the relate/contrast cultures. One thing I would ask Claudia: did your baggage arrive with you on the flight to Seattle? When I went to Rome last year, via al Italia, I arrived at da Vinci airport, while my luggage remained at the transfer airport in Milano. Apparently, al Italia is notorious for this kind of “customer service”, so I wasn’t the only one standing line filling out forms wondering when my luggage was going to arrive! I was wondering if this, too, was a part of Italian culture (“Ahhh…don’t worry about your luggage. It will eventually get to you!”). But, I totally get Claudia’s comments about being in a big city such as Rome and NOT feeling alone and isolated because of the history and the “close-up” nature of it’s culture; most American cities, at least on the surface, seem imposing and distant because of the high glass and steel skyscrapers.
I have traveled extensively throughout the world and have had many wonderful travel experiences. However, I try not to judge foreign cities, all cities have good and bad. I very much enjoyed Cairo and Athens for all they have given to the western world…and how then Rome passed it on to the western world, what an unrivalled history those two cities have.I live in Boston and I must say its a fabulous city, with lovely parks, new pedestrian zones, some of the great universities in the world, great hospitals, wonderful museums, restaurants and a city who has had many “original idea’s”– Then around me are the great places like Providence, Newport, Vermont, lovely Maine etc….New England is wonderful, and so is the rest of this glorious country….we may not have european piazzas, however, we have many wonderful things…..
How about Union Square in San Francisco California or Jack London Square in Oakland California or Central Park in New York? We have lots of places just like Piazza’s you just have to look! Judy
Thanks Judy….
Thanks Nancy – Great post! European views of Americans are in reality much less critical and condescending than our “press” would lead us to believe. They “like” us – but not our “leaders”. We are a unique country in that we are so “young”, but we play into other countries’ strategies very intricately.
OFF TOPIC- did you see where the Euro is up to 1.52 against the US dollar and oil is now $103 a barrel.
Great heart-felt post by Nancy. Thanks!
We felt so sorry for the young lady we talked to in Ajaccio, Corsica, when she said, “Yes, I’ve been to America, I visited New York City.” We enjoyed Paris 9 trips, Rome 4 trips, Berlin 4 trips. but the 100 places in France, the 80 places in Germany, and 63 places in Italy, where we have spent the night, complete the story of each country. As much as we enjoyed Rome, Paris, and Berlin, given the choice of only little towns, or only the capitals of those countries, we would choose the villages, in our RV. A clerk in a grocery or bakery in Europe, is thrilled to meet an American. A waiter and a bell hop are thrilled to get a tip.
To add to my earlier comments, I watched several programs on PBS yesterday, one of which was about the painted churches in Texas and another about missions in Texas from the Spanish colonial era. Both made me want to spend some extra time exploring my own back yard. The painted churches date from the 1850’s to the mid-20th century and are in German and Czech communities throughout central Texas. The immigrants used paint to give the illusion of the great stone churches of the cities they came from in Europe. Many towns in Texas bear names referring back to these (such as Praha). The missions date back to the early 1500’s in some cases and while some are only ruins, many are still active in their original purpose as houses of worship. Some are quite grand. The most famous, of course, is the Alamo. Lots of interesting history to explore. I now know what I will be doing when the Euro gets so expensive that trips to Europe are out of the question…
Tell Claudia I’m surprised, too, but very pleased to see families at political events. Our politics now seems to have become multi-generational. This I take as a good sign for our future.
I hear you about the Euro making it almost impossible to visit Europe in the near future. Just the other day I was talking to my travel agent complaining about airfare and she said an enormous amount of people are ditching the Europe trips and heading for Alaska cruises.
Will the dollar ever go back up against the Euro – how does this work? My last trip to Europe in 2005 cost me more than I would have ever imagined. I totally underestimated it. Maybe an Alaskan cruise isn’t such a bad idea . . . or what places in Europe are affordable even with a weak dollar?
Ken a good article that is from 2004 that explains the why is ……..http://gbr.pepperdine.edu/041/devaluation.html …… and believe it or not the Euro to Us is supposed to decrease to a record low of 1.3 in July ,,,,,http://www.forecasts.org/euro.htm,,,,,, I think it’s a safe bet to say that the big cities are ghastly expensive so your best bets are little towns or slightly off the glitz line. I know what you are saying about alaska and cruises- our once a year education seminar has a 7 day carribean cruise is 463.00 who could pass that up
Although I found Claudia’s observations interesting, imagine for a second if Claudia was an American in Italy making similar observations about Italian salads, the ambition of Italians, the funny way Italian salads are prepared, the way Italian football (soccer) is played, etc., just the kind of things that Rick and other travel writers warn us about when we travel. In other words, to quote Ricj “Vive le difference!” There is a difference between an observation and a denunciation. It’s the way the point is made. Since I’m sure that she meant that her observations be taken lightly, I make these comments in the same light (and not to be taken defensively). However, for me, I’ve always found that the most interesting travelers (on either side of the Atlantic) are those who are open-minded, big-hearted and non-judgemental.
I lived in Europe for almost fifteen years, about twelve of them in Milan, so I found Claudia’s comments “right on.” Brava, Claudia!
Oh Lord. OK, pass the red pepper shaker and much love to Obama. Come on Rick, enough with the overbearing lib politics. Where else did this lovely women from another country go? What did you talk about? Did she stand in line at Starbucks? Is this what foreign visitors do for fun,stand in line at politcal rallies? I don’t remember you standing in line at a Berlusconi political event. Never mind.
I apologize. Big fan of Rick’s TV show. Found this site tonight! Excellent. But then—Wow. Politics all over the place. OK. There it is. I left the previous message before reading this post by Rick; The Bloggy Joy of Travel (with Politics). So now I understand. I will check in with the Iran blog, but I won’t bother you guys anymore. As a parent of an active duty military man, let me re-iterate from a previous post, don’t be a ‘useful idiot’ for Iran. And that I will not apologize for. Thanks.
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