Most Italians seem to think that Minister Gianfranco Rotondi has, at the very least, been daydreaming and many have declared him mad, for he has had the temerity to suggest that the sacred long lunch break is not good for the country’s productivity.
Newspaper cartoonists have had a field day, unions are up in arms and nutritionists have been quick to point out that Italians have a very light breakfast, if they pause for this meal at all. Nutritionist Pietro Migliaccio has stated that his compatriots en masse risk a “blood sugar crisis” in the afternoons if they do not stop work for the traditional Italian lunch.
In the south of Italy the long lunch break is mostly observed, partly because the summer heat makes it impossible for people to continue working between 1 pm and 5 pm but in the north there are more and more companies who direct their employees to work to Northern European patterns. Bar owners, restaurateurs and hoteliers throughout Italy have always worked through the siesta hours, as do some manual workers and, of course, medical professionals.
However, the reckless suggestion by Minister Rotondi that a long break to digest what is still the most important meal of the day might be bad for both the waistline and the Italian economy has met with derision country-wide, especially as Mr Rotondi dared to compare the British and German short lunch breaks favourably.
After all, every Italian knows that no other nation has the faintest idea how and when to eat so who is Mr Rotondi to criticise the time-honoured practice of turning city centres into ghost towns for the duration of lunch?
Doesn’t he remember his mother calling, “The pasta is draining!” as mothers do all over Italy at 1.30 pm precisely? And as for holding up the British as examples of good eating habits – a nation of culinarily challenged clowns who fry food at 8 am and nibble dry sandwiches whilst working – that is too much for any Italian to stomach.
Too late, the now beleaguered Minister has claimed that he did not say that Italians should renounce their lunch break, but had merely pointed out that he gave up his own lavish lunches twenty years ago – an explanation that is being taken with a pinch of salt just large enough to add to the pasta pot.
Do you think Italians should take a shorter lunch break?
