What we talk about when we talk about food

Italians love to eat, no mystery about that. Italians love to talk about food while they’re eating too. A lot.

Words and illustrations by Martino Pietropoli

It’s an all-Italian habit: to talk about food while we’re eating.
No one would talk about sex while doing it (well, apart from some kind of reinforcement — you know — but that’s another story) or would talk about gasoline at the gas station or about bicycles while riding. It can happen, of course, but the norm is that while you are on a bike or having sex you talk about something else. Or do not talk at all.

Eating has become a meta-activity

Eating is a primary need. Talking about eating is normal. To do the two things simultaneously means giving a primary act a metaphysical connotation: it’s like a picture of a picture, like a text that has an external link (hyperlink or link, yes, exactly). Hypertexts are texts enriched by hyperlink. They are enhanced texts, in which some terms are explained and deepened by other texts somewhere else on the net.

If eating is the hypertext, talking about eating is its hyperlink.