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Friday Fun Thread for February 2, 2024

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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what i eat in a week at my NONNA's house in ITALY 🌶️

TLDW: Lots of good and fresh food. Family, country side, trees, farmers markets, music, etc. (Also moderately hot girl, but let's ignore that for now)

A significant portion of but not majority of the comments be like:

most people want rich and modern lives, but this is the life i want. being home cozy with people i love, eating homecooked food, living in the forest... this video just gives me warmth (+16K)


I’m American and never lived this kind of life. No close family, no home cooking, no fresh fruits and vegetables, no comfortable house. My eyes tear up watching this. It seems so natural and right. I’m happy people live like this. I think it’s how people are meant to live.


Unbelievable that there are places in the world like this that treat everyday like this. Food is a celebration. Everything is fresh from the market. Time is less important and eating nourishing and full meals throughout the day is normal. And coming together to sit around the table each and every time…unbelievably important. 3rd time watching this because it just gives me so much inspiration as an American who is dying to travel to Italy someday and who also hopes to be able to give my future children more of this type of experience surrounding food, family and connection.


It’s nice to see that some parts of the world haven’t forgotten how to live life and it’s not all about money



However

I am autistic. My brain is conjuring up a thousand thoughts and conflicting feelings.

I will admit the life portrayed in the video is probably very pleasant, and you would have to achieve a rather high-end version of the "modern" atomized or even DINK lifestyle of International travel, Michelin Starred monthly meals, and Music Festivals to be about just as happy. So on one hand, I do relate to the comments.

HOWEVER. On the other hand. I want to yell at the people making these comments about lacking perspective. If the entire world lived like this, we wouldn't have engines, computers, the Internet, or ChatGPT. And I think all those things are worth a lot.

Also, doesn't Italy have a youth/recent-grad unemploymentrate of like 40%? Isn't nonna able to afford all these meals because she bought her house when boomers stole from the future? And is funding it now because they are stealing from the zoomers., Maybe I have some kind of brainrot, but my priors whenever I see a group of people having it too good (from my atomized capitalistic point of view), I think rent seeking.

My wife is from southern europe, she moved to live with me. From observing life there, they do have high quality produce year round, which I envy them for, but we do have comparable produce here too, when it's in season and doesn't have to travel too much. Yes, winter is difficult, but in season I've had superlative local tomatoes I would be unashamed to pit against any other countries' best. Same for most produce we grow here.

Other than that, yes, the lifestyle in this video seems pleasant, but there isn't really much stopping us from having it even in cities, we just... don't. I have a farmer's market 5 minutes walk from me, and a very large one 30 minutes away by bus. No matter how much more expensive that food is than supermarket food, it's still vastly cheaper than ordering/eating out and we do the latter way too often (especially considering the diminishing returns in enjoyment).

Maybe there's something we don't want to admit in city life that makes most people at least bit depressive, and that makes us not want to seek out the things we know would make life better even when they're right at hand.