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.