Vegetarianism, Roman style
We went to one of the lectures given each Thursday evening by the Associazione Vegetariana. I really was hopeful. I went there with 100% optimism. Steve didn't even want to go. He wasn't feeling well and had just taken an Actifed so was very drowsy. Yet when he saw how disappointed I was that he wouldn't go, he decided to brush his teeth, wake himself up a bit and head over there with me. It was over at Re di Roma which from our neighborhood - well, those 6 kilometers might as well be 60.
We were about 15 minutes late, but the speaker hadn't started his lecture yet. Valdo was described as a philosopher, (I think they use this term very liberally here) economist, naturopath and nutrition expert. About 30-40 people were packed in a narrow basement room seated in the ubiquitous white plastic outdoor chairs. We were immediately noticed as newcomers and asked to fill in a form with our e-mail address which had to have an entire page devoted to exaggerated Italian privacy laws.
Valdo didn't seem very organized. He started his "lecture" and I really do use this term loosely - with a rant about how he gets angry being asked if he is a vegetarian. Valdo and the president of the organization, Franco, went on and on about how everyone else are corpse eaters (not just meat eaters). This set the tone for the rest of the hour that Steve and I stuck around for, and believe me, it was not nearly over by the time we left. Rather than the academic and intellectual discourse I had hoped to be an audience to and then perhaps take part in - it felt more like a cult meeting. Emotional, random - people interrupted to ask completely irrelevant questions rather than waiting for a Q&A session after the talk. Steve compared it to a condominium meeting - those dreadful meetings that take place in Italy amongst apartment owners within a building that are always attended by a loon, a grouch, and at least one elderly woman who only has about 10sqm of storage space as well as the one (at the very least) person who asks a bunch of questions that have nothing to do with the subject at hand turning what should be a 1-2 hour meeting into a 5 hour meeting.
I really thought I could go and listen to an interesting topic with a group of like-minded individuals and perhaps meet some Italians that I have something in common with. Instead, I left with my usual feeling of disappointment. However, instead of giving up, I have vowed to give it another shot - thinking that perhaps we came on an off night. The next lecture that looks of any interest to me is in March so I've got a month to recover.
We were about 15 minutes late, but the speaker hadn't started his lecture yet. Valdo was described as a philosopher, (I think they use this term very liberally here) economist, naturopath and nutrition expert. About 30-40 people were packed in a narrow basement room seated in the ubiquitous white plastic outdoor chairs. We were immediately noticed as newcomers and asked to fill in a form with our e-mail address which had to have an entire page devoted to exaggerated Italian privacy laws.
Valdo didn't seem very organized. He started his "lecture" and I really do use this term loosely - with a rant about how he gets angry being asked if he is a vegetarian. Valdo and the president of the organization, Franco, went on and on about how everyone else are corpse eaters (not just meat eaters). This set the tone for the rest of the hour that Steve and I stuck around for, and believe me, it was not nearly over by the time we left. Rather than the academic and intellectual discourse I had hoped to be an audience to and then perhaps take part in - it felt more like a cult meeting. Emotional, random - people interrupted to ask completely irrelevant questions rather than waiting for a Q&A session after the talk. Steve compared it to a condominium meeting - those dreadful meetings that take place in Italy amongst apartment owners within a building that are always attended by a loon, a grouch, and at least one elderly woman who only has about 10sqm of storage space as well as the one (at the very least) person who asks a bunch of questions that have nothing to do with the subject at hand turning what should be a 1-2 hour meeting into a 5 hour meeting.
I really thought I could go and listen to an interesting topic with a group of like-minded individuals and perhaps meet some Italians that I have something in common with. Instead, I left with my usual feeling of disappointment. However, instead of giving up, I have vowed to give it another shot - thinking that perhaps we came on an off night. The next lecture that looks of any interest to me is in March so I've got a month to recover.
posted by lomalinda at
20:10
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