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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To want to live in this photograph?

68 replies

ThePtarmiganIsSleeping · 31/07/2026 16:30

With these slim, casual, at ease folks from the 1980's enjoying delicious, communal Italian food and pasta ..

I could quite happily crawl back in time and join them for a glass or two. Or just steal the food, the weather and the scenery, wrap it up in a huge sack and drag it back to the uk. Of course, I would dribble the sauce down the front of my white shirt within a minute.

If this was now, they'd all be fighting over their unique exclusion or macro enhanced diets. Someone would wind up being pushed right over that ledge because the pasta is simply white Durum instead of wholewheat Grin

"Is that a lentil ragu or some sort of beef?"
"I've no idea, but I'm not touching it unless it contains 500g of protein!".

Image is by the photographer Slim Aarons: Dining Al Fresco On Capri.

To want to live in this photograph?
OP posts:
TorroFerney · 31/07/2026 19:51

NovemberMorn · 31/07/2026 18:44

🙄

I know! They aren't that slim either!

NovemberMorn · 31/07/2026 19:51

iloveanearlynight · 31/07/2026 19:19

Tedious. Hurtful too.

Edited

Why should it be hurtful?
The OP's choice is to be in the pic with those people, slim and beautiful though they are, as is the scenery, the food, it creates a lovely image of soewhere the OP would like to be.

If others identify with other images, that's their prerogative.
I'm not sure why you have taken this personally... Live and let live. x

iloveanearlynight · 31/07/2026 20:07

planespotter71 · 31/07/2026 19:36

They aren’t skinny, they’re the typical size of that era.

In the 80s we just ate breakfast lunch and tea. People didnt gorge on snacks between their high calorie takeaways and stare at devices all day. If you’re overweight, do something about it so you’re not triggered by a nice thread about a nice photo

Edited

It was OP who said they were slim. Thanks for the useful advice. So helpful.

CalmDownAndChill · 31/07/2026 20:12

I’d like to be in the photo too. I really fancy the tomato and mozzarella salad. I hope it’s not got garlic in though.

BagsyTimBradford · 31/07/2026 20:26

Breathe easy, I think there's a wire fence behind them, you can see a pole and wires behind the chap on the end when googling the image.

However I'll volunteer to jump in your time machine to double check OP (might not return though!).

pinkpony88 · 31/07/2026 21:53

The food looks good but it’s way too near the edge for me! 😮

Shinyhappyapple · 31/07/2026 22:25

SeasideDaisy · 31/07/2026 16:46

I don’t know what’s wrong with me because my first thought was.. They all look dangerously close to the edge of a cliff and there’s not even a fence up behind that row of men.

My thoughts too!

Shinyhappyapple · 31/07/2026 22:29

I think this photograph, and the later one with the car have been sampled by the AI bit that so many people use for their Instagram posts.

JillyComeLately · 01/08/2026 00:21

The picture has a happy, easy going vibe. It reminds me of holidays, sun, relaxed friends and family enjoying each other's company, whilst eating gorgeous local food.

What's not to love?

elfendom1 · 01/08/2026 00:50

SeasideDaisy · 31/07/2026 16:46

I don’t know what’s wrong with me because my first thought was.. They all look dangerously close to the edge of a cliff and there’s not even a fence up behind that row of men.

that is funny 😂

ReadingInBed88 · 01/08/2026 05:05

SeasideDaisy · 31/07/2026 16:46

I don’t know what’s wrong with me because my first thought was.. They all look dangerously close to the edge of a cliff and there’s not even a fence up behind that row of men.

Also, they could do with a bigger table! Someone is bound to end up dripping sauce down their clothes 😁😆

Marinel · 01/08/2026 08:26

We've had that weather in the South East since May, I'd like some rain!

I wouldn't mind being in my 30s again though.

I think the boating hat may be one of these, sitting on a paper doily

https://www.ocado.com/products/brindisa-tarta-de-santiago-igp-almond-cake/81507011

TheThirteenthFairy · 01/08/2026 11:53

Remember 'The Talented Mr Ripley'? Marge's house in Mongibello. The sheltered, flowery courtyard with a table and chairs - I want to live there.

NovemberMorn · 01/08/2026 12:02

Years ago we had some religious group knocking on the door. My son answered and they thrust a picture in his face of a beautiful family picnicking in a leafy wood, animals of all descriptions looking on, sun shining, children dressed in pretty clothes, sitting, smiling sweetly at their parents....altogether an idealic fantasy.
They asked him 'Would you like to live in a world like this'? He aswered, 'I will just ask my mum'....he was about 19 at the time.😄

twilighteaser · 02/08/2026 09:27

" If this was now, they'd all be fighting over their unique exclusion or macro enhanced diets. Someone would wind up being pushed right over that ledge because the pasta is simply white Durum instead of wholewheat
"Is that a lentil ragu or some sort of beef?"
"I've no idea, but I'm not touching it unless it contains 500g of protein!".

Lightheartedly throwing in my perspective from Italy!

Not much of that food 'trend' is popular here, the majority of Italians shudder at the idea of Ragu not being the traditional recipe, the idea of lentils in Ragu would not go down well, although I make it, but my Italian DH has been slightly de-italianized by having a British wife. I can hear in laws now saying "lentils are to be eaten only in January with cotechino sausage and nothing else! There wouldn't be garlic in any of it, Italians in general don't really eat garlic contrary to popular belief, unless it's a specific recipe such as Tuscan Aglione or a dish from the south where garlic is used more.

The people on the photo are all famous, apart from the location looks very much like a normal lunch that we eat most weekends with friends and family, except that much food looks enough for much more than 4 people, unless they are not having a second course of meat or fish, but it would be unusual to eat more than 70g pasta each.

Most adults (at least here in North Italy) are still the size they are on the photo. Bigger built folk like me (UK 14-16) struggle to find clothes as an XL is usually a size 14, so I have to go to specialist 'large' shops. Of course there are larger Italian too, more in the south, but I'm basing this on where I live, my friends & my family. The majority of young Italians eat the exact same food as their grandparents & great grandparents did, so that table of food could be from 1950 or 2026.

Food on the photo clockwise starting with bread, some sort of green, maybe rocket, could be puntarelle but wrong season, then penne al pomodoro, a small dish of anchovies in the middle. mozzerella di bufla and what seem to be Camone tomatoes, with basil. Could be cow's milk but photo is Capri, so more likely to be from a. Last dish look like frittata to me. Dessert would be on the table with savory food.

CountessBinface · 02/08/2026 14:39

SeasideDaisy · 31/07/2026 16:46

I don’t know what’s wrong with me because my first thought was.. They all look dangerously close to the edge of a cliff and there’s not even a fence up behind that row of men.

I don't understand why the men are all facing away from the beautiful view, surely they could have put the seating on the other side of the table?

Possiblynotever · 02/08/2026 14:59

It's a Caprese: a chocolate and almond cake from, obviously, Capri.
My auntie had a house in Capri and it was a bit like that in the 80s, when Italians took their holidays there ( not anymore...). Cooking pasta and buying a Caprese is not that hard. You can still find the same picture, updated in colours and hairstyle, in other sea resorts in Italy.

DeftGoldHedgehog · 02/08/2026 15:13

EvangelicalAboutButteredToast · 31/07/2026 17:27

I was a kid in the eighties and while it wasn’t perfect, i now realise it was free from the constant existential drama that exists now. Ever since Covid we’ve existed in the early frames of a horror movie. Constant suspense and dramatic orchestral music as we move nearer to the basement door.

Yeah, there was only riots, recession youth unemployment, nuclear war, Thatcher destroying industry, mass redundancy, strikes, massive interest rates and inflation, football violence, more riots, IRA terrorism, Northern Ireland conflict, war in the Middle East, Aids, sexism, racism and homophobia to worry about then. A halcyon age 🤔

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