la Bella Vita

Eat Spaghetti and Still Fit Into Your Skinny Jeans
To many of us, "diet" is a four-letter word. And rightfully so. Starving yourself thin or keeping track of each bite like pennies in your checkbook is no way to live. So what's a girl with skinny jean dreams supposed to do?

I have just noticed that this title was released again in 2006 with a slightly longer title 'La Bella Vita Life Love and Food in Southern Italy'. I have just read the original paperback edition though,
I always enjoy books about life in Italy, hardly surprising really! This one was an easy read with each chapter painting a vivid picture of Italian village life in the 1960's until the 1980's. Vida Adamoli has some interesting tales to tell of life in Torre Saracena (not the real name)and of how the 20th century eventually and sadly caught up with it.

Fino a ieri imperversava la dieta a zona, oggi va di gran moda la Dukan. Cambiano i nomi e i metodi, ma alla fine si tratta sempre e soltanto di faticosi tentativi di diventare insensibili al richiamo del cibo per riuscire a entrare nei vestiti senza essere campioni mondiali di apnea. Tentativi faticosi e inutili: una montagna di sacrifici per perdere due chili in un mese vanificati dalla prima pizza con patate e salsiccia. Ma si può dire basta all'assurda schiavitù sociale di essere tutti magri come una modella di Armani.