• Share:
  • Send to StumbleUpon
  • Send to Facebook
  • Send to del.icio.us
  • Send to digg

Why are lattes bad after dinner but cheese and ice cream ok?

I'm trying to reconcile the Italian tendency to avoid milky coffee drinks after big meals with the tendency to consume cheese and milky desserts. Discuss!

3 Comments:

Because Italians have a historic predilection for fascism.

Tradition has alot to do with it, but there's a practical aspect, as well. The dairy component in a cappuccino or caffe' latte just sits there, in the stomach - you wouldn't put that on top of a meal, would you? By contrast, a cheese course (with salad or on its own) eats lighter than a dairy-filled coffee beverage does. The pieces are relatively small, and its more of the same savory elements that got you to this point in the meal in the first place. Gelato has other elements to it that make it perfect post-meal: its temperature, its sweetness, its mouthfeel, etc. Plus, re coffee beverages, there's already a superior, game-over drink to cap a meal, and that's a short or long espresso - those other drinks don't even enter the discussion.

These little food rules work - here's another: caffe' latte is most often consumed by the 16-and-under crowd after naps and school, as a merenda (snack). Adults drink either espresso or cappuccino in the morning, then espresso through the day. I guess they don't see the point of all that dairy once you've passed a certain age.

Enzyme-rich foods are a great aid to digestion. Raw milk and cheese are good sources of enzymes.

Add a comment:

Comments can take up to a minute to appear - please be patient!

Previewing your comment:

 

HTML Hints

Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>

Comment Guidelines

Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.

If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.

Start Talking!

Need a question answered? Have advice to share? Start a Talk topic now!

Sign up to start a talk topic

Sign up to get your questions answered and share advice.