Food was a major factor in my decision to study abroad in Italy.
I figured I couldn’t go wrong in a country that specializes in pizza, pasta, and gelato. And as expected, Italy hasn’t let me down. But what I didn’t anticipate is that I would spend just as much time enjoying Italian cuisine as I would spend listening to girls talking about how unhealthy and “fat” they felt eating it. I didn’t realize at first how much time my friends and I spend beating ourselves up about food we had loved until one of my guy friends brought up that he had never heard the word “carbs” used as often in a day as he had walking around Rome with a group of girls. And after spending only a brief time paying attention, I’ve started to realize not only how often this negative food talk comes up, but also the negative effect it has on the overall mood of the group.
This back and forth about food, guilt, and weight usually starts with just one simple comment. One girl saying “I’ve eaten SO much today,” tends to quickly escalate into a conversation in which almost every girl in the group lists all the “bad” food they’ve eaten that day and how unhealthy they feel. By the end of the conversation, I can say that at least for me personally, I’m feeling guiltier than I was at the start.
Just as one person can easily start up a negative discussion about food, I think another person can just as easily move the conversation in a different direction. My new goal this trip is to be the girl who doesn’t talk about food in a negative way, and I’m hoping that I can convince my friends to do the same. Part of the reason I came to Italy was to enjoy the food, and cutting out the negative comments will help me enjoy it even more.
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