Sweet Jesus, I knew this would happen sooner or later. We've been invited to eat dinner at the mall on Friday night.Let me back up. They've built a monstrosity of a shopping center/office park right near my house. What was once a series of abandoned factories and open fields has given way to what seems to be a futuristic mausoleum-cum-helipad as imagined by architects in the 1960s. The only saving grace of this whole project is that architect Renzo Piano is supposed to come in and design a massive park and cultural center with a two-kilometer-long path (jauntily called a "Rambla" in the plans) that is meant to counterbalance the whole thing. I have no right to be a mall snob. I'm a girl from the suburbs and am very much a product of mall culture. Much the way the kids around here congregate under the porticoes, we went to the mall to hang out. I won't pretend I don't like going to the mall when I go home. But for whatever reason, it bothers me that the mall has followed me here.
What I like about where I live is that I can walk or bike everywhere, from the bakery to the library. I like getting fresh bread every day and patronizing all of the small shops that still do things the "right way." These are the best things about living in Italy, and if the malls and pre-fab apartment complexes keep making inroads, why stay here at all? Why not just move back to the U.S., find a job (much easier to do than here) and buy a large, freestanding house for the same price we paid for a 900-square-foot apartment in Italy?
I understand that to some Italians, the coming of the malls represents "progress" and "the future," which is why Cristiano's cousin has invited us to eat dinner there on Friday night (plus, she has a baby and wants to make sure she gets parking, or something to that effect). But having seen what mall culture has wrought in the U.S. - from, among other things, the death of Main Street to the obesity epidemic - I'm more than a little wary.
Below some comparisons of real Italian foods and their Americanized "mall food" equivalent.
On the left is a bowl of spaghetti ai broccoli the way nonna or I, for that matter, would make it at home here in Italy. I'm guessing but there are maybe 500 calories and 15 or so grams of fat. The picture on the right is broccoli pasta as interpreted by Ruby Tuesdays, dubbed "Angiopasta" in the CNN article I link to above. There are 2,068 calories and 128 grams of fat! Mamma mia!
5 comments:
I've definitely noticed the differences in sizes of paninos here. In the states, they just pile on the meats, cheeses and condiments. Whereas here, I've seen people put just one slice of of meat and one slice of cheese and it's enough for them. I really think it's a much better way to eat a panino. You actually taste what your eating between your bread.
Well, I don't eat meat or cheese so there's usually no panino for me. If I'm lucky (once in a very blue moon) there may be grilled vegetables but without any lettuce, tomato or condiments, it's not particularly flavorful. The Autogrill has a vegan panino and I give them an A for effort, but it's not very tasty. But in terms of portion size, things have just gotten out of control in the U.S. That Ruby Tuesdays pasta blew me away.
I see this too. This summer we have a second giant mall opening up just outside of town on the same road as the other one (Carrefore to go with the Auchan)! In a town like mine I worry what this is going to do to the nice "centro storico". In a funny side note at first no one here would shop there because they couldn't believe that the nice new shiny mall could sell things cheaper than their local store. Now things have changed and Sundays are packed there.
Jeff
My favorite panino is the Veggie Delite at Subway. It contains no meat (but does contain cheese) I like how there is a taste other than bread in the American sandwichs as opposed to the Italian ones.
I've never eaten the angiopasta at Ruby Tuesdays and based on the oicture alone I don't think I ever will, let alone the high calorie and fat content.
Jeff,
I too fear for the small shops. I try to always patronize the small shops, and the one thing I go to the mall for is a 30-minute pants hemming service for five Euros! Otherwise, I pay the woman at the drycleaners at least double and it takes her ten days to get the pants back to me.
J,
I have had the veggie delight sandwich at Subway. When we drive from New York to Ohio, we always stop at Subway because it's the only thing halfway healthy on I-80.
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