Spain was Romanized before Christianity but today we still talk about Italianization. No, we are not referring to the term that can also be associated in politics with the collapse and fragmentation of traditional parties, nor with the recent rise of xenophobic populism, nor with a situation of economic crisis, parliamentary scandal or citizen disappointment. Nothing of that.
We refer to another cultural point of view of italianism, to that recent trivial fascination with the Mediterranean, the countryside, tradition, ancient architecture, the hedonistic way of life and those things that Americans have always attributed to Italy. totally distinctive aesthetical that we have been claiming for ourselves for years and that we now laugh at.
Because no, we are not Italian.
The most recent reliable document is found, of course, on social networks, that loudspeaker of the seams of civilization that always gives us the what, how and why of the future of society. In a post from the @artindetails account we were shown the other day a photo of a table full of food next to some kind of rural countryside. Nothing is missing on the tablecloth: bread fresh from the oven, jams, tomatoes, freshly squeezed orange juice, butter, flowers and crockery straight out of a Visconti movie. The text reads as follows:
B.breakfast in Spain.
Yes, between Spaniards and Italians there has always been a kind of Brotherhoodbe it because of the historical ties that unite us, a moderately similar language or that DNA that makes us unique in some aspects, such as enjoying a long after-dinner meal or unconditional love for mom of all house Even in the capital, some have insisted on calling some streets in the Chamberí neighborhood the “Little Italy” of Madrid, just because there are several trattorias and pizzerias together.
But today the average Spaniard seems to have tired of pretending to be something he is not and wonders what the sliced gherkin on the table in that photo was. Today the average Spaniard brings another image of pure Spanish reality, of national identity:
Going back to the viral Twitter post, we have witnessed how Spain has embraced its mediocrity and common sense, and has become detached from everything that once seemed beautiful, elegant and “European”. To later turn the conversation of the post to “what is a good Spanish breakfast”, where we have found all an almost anthropological dispute about who we really are. The identity, illustrated at breakfast at 8:30 through dozens of photos.
Because, what is being Spanish? for breakfast talking? Is the boiling cut on the methacrylate bar of the neighborhood bar, chewing a tempered tortilla skewer, or ham and tomato toast on a terrace? Or is the fast breakfast of croissant in any coffee shop before arriving at the office?
As the user Adrián Bishop well observed, the Madrid breakfast could well be a morning scene The Serranos either Family doctorwith the grandfather complaining of rheumatism, the mother sweating while buttoning the coat of the youngest and burning her toast, the father wiping a coffee stain, a souvenir last minute before rushing off to the office, and the daughter finishing the homework she didn’t do the day before.
For other target demographic Spanish breakfast could be even a Monster face to the computer to welcome another hard day of work with energy.
What countryside, or what Tuscany? Breakfast in Spainloud and clear.
Images: Twitter
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