I'm back "on the road" ... walking a part of the Cammino di San Francesco and-or the Via Francigena (albeit in the "wrong" direction). Yesterday I stayed with the friars at the Sanctuary of Fonte Colombo, and tonight I'm headed to the Franciscan sanctuary at Greccio. The friars at Fonte Colombo gave me a warm bed, a hot meal, and a scorchin' hot shower ... it was a surprise welcome and a real blessing, and only something that could have happened in Italy: the only reason I ended up there was because, Italy being Italy, they had cancelled the normally scheduled trains to Rieti .... and failed to update the electronic ticket database or even inform the train station personnel, who couldn't figure out how the train on Platform 1 could be "in departure" (as indicated by the flashing lights and public announcements) without the actual presence of a train on Platform 1. This meant I got a late start ... which meant I couldn't quite arrive at my planned destination ... and hence the surprise welcome at Fonte Colombo. GOD BLESS THE FRANCISCANS!
I'm happy to be "sul cammino" ... it suits me well!
As the "brothers" say ... Pace e Bene ...
p.s. Today I saw a man taking his dog for a walk. Well, the dog was walking. The man, big and jolly, just barely fit into the seat behind the steering wheel of his rusty old car ... to which he had attached a rusty old chain ... to which was attached the dog, trotting along behind ... That was a new one for me!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
"It’s not a (green) revolution until somebody gets hurt"
I just listened to Thomas Friedman’s presentation (“Hot, Flat, and Crowded,” the same title as his latest book) to the London School of Economics. This will surprise a lot of people, but: I like Thomas Friedman. I hesitate to define myself as a “capitalist”, but, in fine e in fondo, I do believe in capitalism. I think competition and incentivization work better than standardization and regulation (while I also believe that policy plays an important role in regulating competition that turns ugly). I’m certain I can’t summarize Friedman’s book in two lines (especially since I haven’t read it), but two phrases from his presentation deserve repeating:
- “It’s not a revolution until somebody gets hurt”. That is: forget all this nonsense about “101 easy ways to green the planet” … and actually implement policies that actually force innovation to actually green the planet.
- “Wouldn’t it be great if Barack Obama and his wife and their two girls got on their bicycles and biked to the White House? Now that would be leadership.” I agree. That’d be awesome.
I’d love it if some of you listened to the program and shared your thoughts.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
More on Meat
Let’s talk a little more about meat. And about another argument I’ve made (without ever getting anyone to agree with me): that Italians in general have a very low level of nutritional-dietetic awareness. (And that this explains why the levels of childhood obesity in Europe are among the highest in Europe, and why obesity-related diseases such as diabetes are growing rapidly in Italy.)
My roommate – who I really like – provides me with an endless source of material for reflection (and, sometimes, pique) . Yesterday, she suggested that I might like eating in the University dining hall. When I said I preferred to “pack a lunch” – a behavior almost unheard of among Italian students – she asked why, and I explained that the meals served in the cafeteria were much more expensive than anything I might prepare at home, and that I find the offerings to be generally “unhealthy”. She disagreed: “I really think you should go. You can find some really good, healthy options. For example, on Wednesdays … Bistecca alla Fiorentina. It’s just the steak and a little olive oil drizzled on top. That’s it! Very light.”
Well, that is it, and, actually, that’s the point. To make sure I hadn’t misunderstood anything, I took an “ask for clarification” moment and ascertained that, in fact, I had understood perfectly: we were talking about a broiled porterhouse steak about two inches thick and twelve inches long. A little math gave me the nutritional facts on my roommate’s “light, healthy” meal (or, really, that part of her meal). If I assume the smallest possible weight (let’s say 400 grams), the leanest cut (trimmed to 0” fat, select grade), and discount the added oil – not to mention the bread, dressed salad, and Coca-Cola that almost surely accompany the meat – we’re talking about a consumption of about 1200 calories, 85 grams of fat, 32 grams of saturated fat, and 260 mg of cholesterol. And, given what I’ve seen in Italy – enormous portions of meat and fattier rather than leaner cuts – we could be understating those figures by perhaps 30%. We’ve already exceeded daily recommended limits for fat and saturated fat, we’re not so far away from those for calories and cholesterol, and we’ve considered only the meat consumed during lunch.
If this were an isolated example, it would be … an isolated example. But I’ve met with lots of similarly absurd health-related claims. Among other foods that Italians have tried to convince me are healthy: kebab (fatty pork meat served with fatty sauce), Bolognese bread (super-refined white-flour bread flavored with pig fat), Milanese-style steak (fatty beef, breaded and fried), and deep-fried vegetables.
What’s most interesting to me isn’t that Italians eat this, ah, “stuff”. It’s that everyone – Italians, Americans, Martians, everyone – maintains that Italians have better food habits than “everyone else” and most especially than Americans. It’s certainly not true in many “particular” cases, and I’d argue that’s not true even on average.
Surprise.
My roommate – who I really like – provides me with an endless source of material for reflection (and, sometimes, pique) . Yesterday, she suggested that I might like eating in the University dining hall. When I said I preferred to “pack a lunch” – a behavior almost unheard of among Italian students – she asked why, and I explained that the meals served in the cafeteria were much more expensive than anything I might prepare at home, and that I find the offerings to be generally “unhealthy”. She disagreed: “I really think you should go. You can find some really good, healthy options. For example, on Wednesdays … Bistecca alla Fiorentina. It’s just the steak and a little olive oil drizzled on top. That’s it! Very light.”
Well, that is it, and, actually, that’s the point. To make sure I hadn’t misunderstood anything, I took an “ask for clarification” moment and ascertained that, in fact, I had understood perfectly: we were talking about a broiled porterhouse steak about two inches thick and twelve inches long. A little math gave me the nutritional facts on my roommate’s “light, healthy” meal (or, really, that part of her meal). If I assume the smallest possible weight (let’s say 400 grams), the leanest cut (trimmed to 0” fat, select grade), and discount the added oil – not to mention the bread, dressed salad, and Coca-Cola that almost surely accompany the meat – we’re talking about a consumption of about 1200 calories, 85 grams of fat, 32 grams of saturated fat, and 260 mg of cholesterol. And, given what I’ve seen in Italy – enormous portions of meat and fattier rather than leaner cuts – we could be understating those figures by perhaps 30%. We’ve already exceeded daily recommended limits for fat and saturated fat, we’re not so far away from those for calories and cholesterol, and we’ve considered only the meat consumed during lunch.
If this were an isolated example, it would be … an isolated example. But I’ve met with lots of similarly absurd health-related claims. Among other foods that Italians have tried to convince me are healthy: kebab (fatty pork meat served with fatty sauce), Bolognese bread (super-refined white-flour bread flavored with pig fat), Milanese-style steak (fatty beef, breaded and fried), and deep-fried vegetables.
What’s most interesting to me isn’t that Italians eat this, ah, “stuff”. It’s that everyone – Italians, Americans, Martians, everyone – maintains that Italians have better food habits than “everyone else” and most especially than Americans. It’s certainly not true in many “particular” cases, and I’d argue that’s not true even on average.
Surprise.
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