5 . Globalization has significantly influenced food consumption in most parts of the world, but one country whose food has a long history of being globalized is Italy. If you walk down any main street in any major world city, you will find at least one Italian restaurant. Furthermore, Italy has seen changes in its own eating habits due to influence from other countries.

Food has always been very important for Italian families. Italians take a lot of pride in the making and preparation of food. Until recently, pasta——a basic Italian food——would have been made by people in their local area. Families would also have made the sauces to eat with the pasta at home.    1    

Nowadays, however, Italian eating habits appear to have changed. people no longer spend so much time preparing their meals. Indeed, frozen or takeaway Italian meals have become very popular in Italy. Furthermore, dried pasta is now mass-produced and sold relatively cheaply in the supermarkets. Ready-made pasta sauces are also increasingly popular—sales have doubled in the last five years, according to one manufacturer.    2    This trend is more common in urban areas such as Rome, Milan and Venice, although many smaller towns are also experiencing similar changes.

These changes have both advantages and disadvantages. On the plus side, globalization has increased the range of food available in Italy. Italians now have much more choice in terms of what they eat. They also do not need to spend so long preparing and making food, unless of course they want to. In contrast, it can be argued that large restaurant chains are becoming increasingly powerful, resulting in the destruction of local and national specialties.    3    

    4    Convenience foods have replaced many of the traditional home-cooked meals, and the availability of foreign fruits has greatly increased. While this extra choice is welcomed by some, others fear the damage it may cause to Italian traditions.

Communal Eating?

In China, communal eating (合餐共食) is considered very important for forming a close relationship. In the memories of most Chinese, one of the happiest moments in their lives was seated around a table with families or friends,     1     dishes and chatting over wine.

In the campaign against the COVID-19 outbreak, this dining tradition has been greatly     2    . Since each diner picks food out of the communal plates on a bite-by-bite basis with their chopsticks, the virus can be transferred from saliva (唾液) to chopsticks to the dish. What’s worse, diners often     3     others with their own utensils, such as chopsticks or spoons, to express friendliness and care. Several cases of coronavirus are thought to have     4     through families when sharing food during the Chinese New Year period.

Communal eating has thus become a target of both governments and restaurants. Posters have been     5     by local governments to encourage people to use serving utensils. Concerned about customers being very careful about returning to restaurants, the catering industry (餐饮业) has     6     joined the campaign. For example, many restaurants, once allowed to reopen, have immediately sprung into action, particularly offering set meals for one single person.

These changes are likely to continue and could be encouraged by local regulations, as eating together     7     can always protect the public health. The measures will     8     the traditional mealtime manners.

The move away from a traditional cultural     9     is ongoing. But as an expert said, “In modern times to eat individually may lose some tradition, but it can also mean more opportunities for     10     something new in Chinese food and eating habits.”

Winter may be seen as the time to fill up with food, but in fact, sunny summer months are when men eat more calories—unlike women.

The effect seems to occur because sunlight makes the skin release an appetite-stimulating hormone (激素), says Carmit Levy at Tel Aviv University in Israel. Levy and her colleagues noticed the effect in experiments in mice, in which male animals exposed to UV light (紫外线) ate more food.

To see if humans do the same, the team used data on about 3000 people who had filled in questionnaires as part of the Israeli government’s national health and nutrition survey. Between March and September, the men consumed about 17 per cent more calories per day than they did during the rest of the year, while the women’s food intake stayed about the same.

Human appetite is influenced by many complex systems, but a substance called ghrelin, a hormone produced in the body that stimulates appetite, seems to be the only hormone that directly stimulates eating. It was thought to be mainly produced by the stomach when empty. “It tells the brain to eat more,” says Caroline Gorvin at the University of Birmingham, UK.

Further investigation revealed that exposing male mice to UVB (紫外线 B 段波) radiation, which is present in sunlight, raised levels of ghrelin production by fat cells in their skin. This was blocked by the female sex hormone, which may explain why the effect wasn’t seen in the female mice or the women. Boosted ghrelin production was also seen in men’s skin samples that were exposed to UV light in the lab.

Skin hasn’t previously been thought to play a role in appetite, says Gorvin. The reason for the effect is unclear, but it may be an adaptive response to fuel greater physical activity in summer, says Levy.

8 . Dining in China: Culture Shock

Before coming to China, I thought of Chinese food as General Tso’s chicken, egg rolls, and fortune cookies.     1     In my first few weeks here, the group I was working with went out to dozens of group dinners. We were introduced to the Chinese way of dining out, and there was quite a bit of culture shock involved.

For one, the community style of dining was new to me. In America, I was used to sharing an appetizer with someone sometimes and then everyone ordering their own main course. In China, many dishes are ordered and placed on a lazy Susan. The table is spun around and you grab what you like. And we’re not just talking a starter, a main, and dessert here; a Chinese dinner is a marathon of food.       2     of course, there are always some staple foods around-rice, dumplings, or noodles. Soup comes last in a Chinese dinner instead of first, and dessert usually consists of a massive fruit plate.

Using chopsticks was also new to me and took quite some time to get used to. It was always embarrassing at first when I couldn’t grab something tasty from the moving table and had to wait until the next time around. After years of practice, I can now confidently snatch a peanut as it’s flying by me on a lazy Susan-practice really does make perfect! In the first few months, I was laughed at so many times by Chinese people while they watched me struggle with chopsticks. That probably explains why one of my favorite things to do while dining out in many Western restaurants in town is watching young, trendy Chinese people struggle with their forks and knives.

I had eaten chow mein before, as well as egg fried rice and Kung Pao chicken, but there were plenty of Chinese dishes that gave me culture shock in my first few months here.     3     While Americans basically only eat chicken breasts, wings, and thighs, Chinese will also dig into the liver, heart and especially the feet. There’s an old Chinese belief that eating an animal organ will benefit your corresponding organ-eating a heart is good for your heart, and eating a brain will make you smart. You can figure out the rest yourself.

Despite all of this food-related culture shock, I can honestly say that one of the best things about living here is the food and dining out. Chinese cuisine is so complex and varied that you could spend an entire lifetime here and not taste it all.     4     To be honest, now when I go home to visit I actually end up missing Chinese food more. Sometimes, culture shock is a good thing!