The Daily Private Podcast 1

Hello, and welcome to "The Daily Private Podcast." Thank you so much for tuning in. Today, we're going to be talking about food, how food is prepared, how food is consumed, and we're going to be comparing a bit across cultures.

In this unit, the grammar focus is the simple passive, so you're going to consistently be hearing the simple passive throughout the podcast.

And we use the simple passive when we don't want to mention the subject in general. So I could say with the active voice, people eat pasta frequently in Italy, or I could use the passive voice, which is the focus, and I could say, pasta is eaten frequently in Italy.

So with the passive sentence, you can infer or assume that I am talking about Italian people, right?

You'll hear a lot of this passive structure where the subject isn't mentioned through the podcast.

So let's start to get into the topic, which as we said, is food.

My own personal experiences are mainly in the US, where I was born, in Spain as well, where I lived for a few years, and in Italy, where I currently live.

So based on my experiences and conversations that I've had, food is prepared and is eaten less formally in the US if we compare to Spain and Italy.

There are many times that food is made quickly, food is prepared, and is eaten more quickly in the US because many times there's more of a sense of rush in the US. Whereas in Spain and in Italy, people take their time, and they appreciate the moment even more. Many times, consuming food is seen as a social interaction or the chance to slow down, enjoy the moment, spend time with people, and enjoy that type of atmosphere.

Additionally, food is eaten frequently while working or while walking or things like that in the US, which is something that is considered to be quite strange, usually, both in Spain and in Italy.

Many times, from my experiences, food is eaten in front of the TV, possibly on the couch, and like I said, is eaten quite quickly in the US.

Moving along also to how food is prepared, if we want to make some comparisons here.

More additives are used in the US, and many of those additives are banned throughout Europe.

So for example, according to Forbes, Red Dye No. 3 is an additive that is used pretty frequently for gummies, candies, snacks in the US, and it is banned in Europe.

Pretty interesting. Another one is potassium bromate.

This is an additive that's, again, used pretty frequently through the US and some other places as well, but it is banned in Europe and is banned in other places.

And as another example, titanium dioxide, which apparently is a whitening agent.

It can be found in some baked products, cheese.

So this was interesting for me to learn because, in my experiences in the US, I did experience some digestive issues, some difficulties feeling like my food was digesting in a normal and natural way.

And from what I've heard after that, this is something that is talked about a lot in the US.

My cousin, some other friends, have experienced some similar problems while living in the US.

And coincidentally, or not so coincidentally, after moving to Europe, I started to notice that my digestion became much more natural, and I started to feel better, not feel so bloated.

And as I said, this seems to be a trend between people that I have talked about who have spent extended amounts of time in Europe.

Food is digested more easily because less additives are used while making the food and preparing everything.

So quite interesting. Something to be considered, of course, when comparing those different areas of the world.

Going back, not just to food preparation, but back to how food is consumed and the slower way that I've seen food consumed both in Spain and in Italy.

There is a concept in Spain, and there's actually a word for it.

The word in Spanish, or that's used in Spain at least, is called the sobremesa.

As far as I know, there's not a word for this in Italian, and there's not a word for this in English, in the US at least.

The sobremesa is a concept that really—

It's a word that's put to the idea of sitting around the table and enjoying time with other people after finishing some type of meal, like usually lunch.

So imagine that you're with a group of people on a Sunday, having lunch, maybe in a restaurant or something.

Then many times in Spain, it's customary to stay for a while and chat with people, enjoy more time with them, and not be so rushed to finish so that the bill is paid and the tip is left, that sort of thing.

It's more of a slow time to enjoy catching up with people long after the food is actually finished.

This concept definitely exists culturally in Italy as well from my experiences with friends and with different people.

Whether you're eating at a restaurant or you're eating in someone's home, the group stays for quite a while, and more time is enjoyed between friends and really just chatting to appreciate the moment.

I would say that in the US, from what I did experience, there is that rush to finish, stand up, maybe go somewhere else.

But especially if you're in a restaurant, it's the cultural expectation to get out of there.

So that's been quite an intriguing difference as well.

As another little anecdote, I'm thinking about a time while living in Italy that I planned a barbecue for the classic US holiday, the 4th of July.

I was planning it with a group of international friends, and the people from the US, we were very happy to have it be super casual, maybe have some snacks while standing, playing ping pong or table tennis.

But that is not so accepted in Italy or maybe not so common in Italy.

And the Italians of the group, in that moment, they were really feeling like we should sit down around the table, maybe have our snacks or a little bit of food before the actual lunch.

So there were definitely some cultural differences there.

It's just any type of eating is viewed as a bit more of a formal experience in Italy.

So these have been some of my observations.

I always love observing these cultural differences.

There are always moments to observe and analyze things like this.

And I'm curious, how is food prepared in your country? How is it prepared? How is it consumed? How is it viewed in your country?

Go ahead and share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Thank you so much for tuning in.

This was your Daily Private Podcast.

I appreciate you listening, and stay tuned for more as well. Thank you.