Make a list of the things Italy is famous for you would have
to include: Food, fashion, a prime
minister that makes Caligula seem like the quiet bookish type and of course
some of the world’s finest wines. This
week I’ve been musing (and gathering data in the field) over the difference
between the drinking cultures here and the ones I’ve experienced. I make no secret of the fact that I like a
drink, be it wine, beer, port, whisky, gin, vodka (especially that yummy polish
Bison grass one) and thanks to a couple of visits to South America I’ve even
revived a love for tequila after one bad night when a student and 17 intervening years.
I like the taste of a deep red, the crispness of a white the yeastiness
of beer and I need to stop before I get lost in a train of thought more
appropriate to Oz Clarke than a blog about Italy.
It’s no surprise to say that the drinking culture here is
very different. The first thing I
noticed was how different points of an evening are marked by different
drinks. The early evening is spritz
time, with food it’s wine and after coffee one of a seemingly endless list of
digestives. The Italians make an array
of ridiculously delicious wines and since my arrival I have come across many a
new variety of grape. Alcohol is also
much cheaper meaning a good bottle of wine doesn’t have to be an investment and
with the average drink in a bar costing 2 euro, a night out is not an expensive
prospect. From what I’ve seen all this
cheap booze does not result in much public drunkenness. In my time here I haven’t really seen any from
the locals (the expats are a different matter) and it’s been a relief to not
have to deal with the attentions of an over imbibing male – yes I mean
Ted. On Saturday night a gang of us
headed out to the annual fair for the evening.
Amongst the dodgems, shooting galleries and food stalls there were a
liberal number of drinking venues. T
noted that had this been the UK there would have been at least one drunken
altercation and a lot of booze fuelled bumper car driving. As it was people were just enjoying a glass
of wine with their roast chestnuts or a beer with their barbequed sausage and
despite getting home near 3, I woke up the next morning without a trace of a
hangover.
The prodigious drinking that seems to characterise nights
out in the Anglo countries is frowned upon here. One night while out with some Italian friends
a member of the party commented on how much I drank as sipped a post dinner
digestive – it was my fourth drink in about as many hours. While at times I find this aspect of the
culture uptight it is nice to be able to savour the taste of a really beautiful
drink and not have worry about losing the best part of a day to feeling like a
bar room floor. My friends here have
fallen into two camps – those that don’t really drink and those that like to
party. I know that a night out with the
moderate drinkers will most likely include a comment about my taking a second
glass of wine and as for the other group (especially if M and T are involved)
that needs a good self preservation instinct.
In Aus and the UK drinking is very much a social lubricant,
you’ve something to celebrate you have a drink, you’ve had a bad day you need a
drink, you’re feeling a bit meh so you have a drink, you need a bit of Dutch
courage – yep, you guessed it. The
social culture in these nations is revolved around pubs and bars. Often these places become second homes and
for me who has spent the last 12 years away from family I’ve found the
atmosphere of a friendly local essential to keeping the spirits (pun half
intended) up. That's not so different
here the bars are all full of a Friday evening and every occasion seems to be punctuated
with the raising of a glass. The big
difference is that no one seems to need to medicate themselves to the point of
oblivion. I’ve often wondered what it is
about the culture in the UK and Aus that has us drinking to the point of cognitive
failure – not that we are unique. Whilst
in Japan I lost count of the number of Japanese salarymen I saw getting wasted
in a post work bonding session. Here I’m
enjoying the emphasis on quality rather than quantity and as ever the sharing
of a drink in the company of wonderful people.
No comments:
Post a Comment