guapo
7th May 2006, 11:41 PM
two of my Spanish colleagues were over working with me in London a couple of weeks ago. We were working in the financial district of the city of London. Lunch was taken in the typical (and horrible) city style of running out to grab a sandwich and eating at your desk.
My Spanish colleagues took a very dim view of this and insisted on taking their lunch and going to eat it at a very small table in the coffee break room. I can still see their faces now when somebody tried to explain the concept of a working lunch :eek:
This for me spoke volumes about our respective attitudes to food. For many people working in the city lunch has been reduced to a refuelling exercise (you may remember the film "Wall Street" where the character played by Michael Douglas - Gordon Gecko - claimed that "lunch is for wimps"). Even worse, many people seem actually proud that they have "skipped lunch".
My Italian friends have an expression - "a tavola non si invecchia" - which means that at the table you do not get old (particularly if eating with good friends and family). This seems to be the same attitude to food I have found in Spain. (Is there a similar expression in Spanish?).
I am not trying to imply that Spanish people disappear off for hours for lunch. That has not been my experience when I have been working in Spain. However, lunch does seem to be given its proper place and respected.
My Spanish colleagues took a very dim view of this and insisted on taking their lunch and going to eat it at a very small table in the coffee break room. I can still see their faces now when somebody tried to explain the concept of a working lunch :eek:
This for me spoke volumes about our respective attitudes to food. For many people working in the city lunch has been reduced to a refuelling exercise (you may remember the film "Wall Street" where the character played by Michael Douglas - Gordon Gecko - claimed that "lunch is for wimps"). Even worse, many people seem actually proud that they have "skipped lunch".
My Italian friends have an expression - "a tavola non si invecchia" - which means that at the table you do not get old (particularly if eating with good friends and family). This seems to be the same attitude to food I have found in Spain. (Is there a similar expression in Spanish?).
I am not trying to imply that Spanish people disappear off for hours for lunch. That has not been my experience when I have been working in Spain. However, lunch does seem to be given its proper place and respected.