to not want to go on holiday with DH as he’s taking Pot Noodles?

[Astridastro]

Hear me out on this, we are off to Italy in a month, a lifelong dream of mine, I had visions of long leisurely lunches and dinners, great Italian food and wine aplenty.

Food on holiday has always been a contentious issue for DH, he believes eating out is a waste of money and would rather sit in the hotel room with a Pot Noodle (seriously). On one holiday he actually went to a supermarket and bought all these pound noodles to try. Now I’m not for blowing money on fancy gourmet dinners but I like to eat nice, good healthy food. We’ve gone all inclusive and that’s usually a great compromise.

So this time I was informing him of the Italian tradition of eating late and it being an event, courses taking a while etc etc and he’s been so annoying about it saying he wants to go to McDonalds or he’ll just have Pot Noodles. He like to eat at 12 noon for lunch and 5pm for dinner on the dot, he eats very fast too. He says he’s going for the sights not for the food.

So I’m contemplating leaving him with his sad Pot Noodle and just taking the DC put for a nice meal on my own. It’s the way he keeps going on about it to get a rise out of me.

I go to Italy for the sights, rather than the food. Have generally self-catered with small children in the past (long past!). Restaurants are nice but if the hotel is all-inclusive then you can all eat there, surely? Lunch out whilst visiting sights?
Not condoning Pot Noodles btw. Why would one want to eat those? It's fuel, ditto McDonald's. Food is about a taste explosion, and an experience. Your DH is odd.

Is there a pizza flavoured pot noodle? 😃I'd leave him to it, and enjoy the Italian cuisine. His loss

Do you think he could be deliberately trying to wind you up? Does he have form for this type of behaviour? My friend’s husband was always finding things like this to dig his heels in over because he enjoyed spoiling family events - it was a form of power for him. Weird but true

I live with an Italian and stay with her family every Christmas and summer. One thing I noticed right from the start of our relationship many years ago was simple. Almost all conversations (which normally occur twice every day) start with asking "what are you having to eat". Which may explain why Italian food is generally a damn sight more interesting than English.

LTB to his Pot Noodle and take the kids out to eat.

My DM used to take a Pot Noodle to her b&b when staying over before an early flight. One time she forgot her fork. Did she ask to borrow one? No. She used tweezers to eat it.

What about Super Noodles?

English food is interesting. There are wonderful dishes to eat, and a range of sweet and savoury puddings that are second to nowhere. Not all Italian food is wonderful, just not like all English or French food is wonderful.

Sounds like an Irish boy if ever I heard one!

And socks and sandals and a hankerchief knotted on his head.

if he doesn’t want to eat like a local then why go on holiday? You said you are all inclusive but he is taking his own food? You may find AI is a buffet?

i do find the multi courses frustrating with the Italians. Steak came on it’s own and we had to ask ( and made to feel bad for doing so) for our salad to be served at the same time.

I am struggling with all the "I only go to Italy to sightsee, not for the food" nonsense. You're going to eat something when you're there! Why not eat something nice?

I am struggling with all the "I only go to Italy to sightsee, not for the food"

So am I. It's like visiting Greece and avoiding Greek food, or going to Turkey and avoiding Turkish food.

To me a holiday is exploring, sightseeing, walking, maybe cycling, swimming, reading, some lazing about and immersing myself in the local culture - which involves eating the local food and drinking the local wine. It isn't one thing or the other.

I did not say English food was boring. My parents ran a restaurant which was in the Good Food Guide from the year they opened till they closed down. I simply said Italians care more about good food than the English.

Exactly; Italian food IS food. Have an affair with the waiter.

SO! Tonight I made spaghetti meatballs from scratch topped with Parmagiani 😀 it was delicious and DH plushies off every last mouthful! He has backtracked and said he does not hate Italian food just the waiting between courses.

I have said there’s street food and I do not expect us to be having big lunches more food on the go, after a long day sight seeing, resting our tired feet with a glass (bottle) of wine and a nice long meal is a pleasure. DH is an “always on the go” type.

Bless 14yo DS though he’s on Duolingo

Great update @Astridastro

I simply said Italians care more about good food than the English

Please don't tar all English people with the same brush @OldScribbler. I care about good food, as do DH and DD.

It's unfortunate that the all day breakfast/pot noodle holiday makers in touristy resorts give the rest of us a bad name.

Nothing is true of everyone, but many things are generally true.

I’m not sure there is anything like Bolognaise in Italy. There is a ragu which is made of pork and beef with only a tiny bit of tomato and added milk.
I think that Bolognaise is actually a British concept a bit like onion bhajis- in India they have pakoras but I did not see bhajis. However Italians adapt for the British and make bolognaise.

In my experience pasta is eaten as a first course. There is then a meat course and you can buy additional vegetables to accompany it. Alternatively you can choose fish or they can make up a vegetarian dish. It’s pretty feasible to have quite plain meat and saute potatoes and a veg.

A simple salad there can be delicious with mozzarella avocado strawberries nuts and rocket etc or artichokes.

When I get taken out my family members to a proper restaurant I have had all sorts of vegetarian dishes. However that’s the type of restaurant where the chef comes to speak to you and shows you the raw ingredients before cooking.

My favourite dish is a proper risotto made with fresh truffles picked that day.

pizza is regarded as a social and cheap night out. Away from the tourist areas they only cost about 5 euros each.

What might work is to go for a drink or aperitif in one of the bars that accompany it with food. This tends to be small bites or street food eg arancini or small bits of toasted bread etc Some places provide food free with drinks. They almost amount to a meal in themselves.

My mother in law referred to ‘foreign food’ as it disgusted and somehow it was alien. However most food in the UK is foreign extraction even potatoes for chips. It felt like a form of racism to me at the time but she was quite happy to eat over processed shop bought cakes with added palm sugar. She and her husband died before the age of 80 - he had diabetes and heart issues.

In acciaroli they have such a great diet they can live to well over 100.

Possibly the English care more about good government.

Looks at last 20 years of British government and laughs hysterically

Ahem.

Johnson was a good PM, who did what he said he would - a rarity. Partygate (strangely written up by the person now on the staff of Keir Starmer) was nothing to do with Johnson, and lots to do with civil servants in No. 10 who hated Brexit. Starmer had a party with beer, pizzas and a quiz, and that was fine.
My point, however, was not about PMs, who come and go, but about quality of government i.e. corruption is not a thing in the UK in the way it is in Italy, where it mires every layer of government.

Corruption is not a thing in the UK, righto.

I agree with you, most English people care about food. Sadly, pot-noodles have become a thing, for some reason. Why tasteless cardboard flavoured with too much salt should be so popular is beyond me (I tried one once - cannot remember why - and never again). I like English breakfasts, however, though probably not in Spain, Italy? Part of the experience is to try the local food, surely?

Sigh. Was it obviously and egregiously corrupt as opposed to some people being corrupt and caught out? Does corruption seep through all the civil service (not just the anti-Brexit bits)? Do corrupt officials exist at every level and do you need to bribe them to get anywhere?

I agree. Is he a cheapskate in other areas of life?