Familiarity? Knowing what to expect can help if you are feeling a little alien. It can be disorienting being somewhere you don't speak the language or understand the customs or even how the loo flushes! I've been known to head for a MacD's knowing it will have a loo and a place to sit that won't cost the earth. And I'm not a fan of the grub!
Maybe this one will showcase the vast array of Italian talent on the pop scene anyway. There are enough artists out there to equip it with guitars and records I think!
When I really needed a break from "Italy" though I went to IKEA! This was something I needed to do when we first came here, now I just go there because I need straws and napkins!
Finally!!!! Now that "Hard Rock Cafe Venice" T-shirt I have won't be seen as an obvious fake!!!
He who is of a calm and happy nature will hardly feel the pressure of age, but to him who is of an opposite disposition youth and age are equally a burden Plato
It's not only for the tourists! Everytime I go to Rome I have a meal at Hard Rock and will probably in Venice too once it opens. As much as I enjoy Itaian food I will wait in those ridiculous lines to get either a burger/fries (the best I've had in Italy), chicken strips or nachos. Plus they have free soda refills! I know that is so American, but it makes me happy just thinking about it oddly. Hey, I'm easy to please. Anyways, Venice needs more decent restaurants even if it's not Italian.
Oooohh! Another place I can get a rack of ribs, baked beans and cole slaw!
We joked that we were going to start planning our European trips around where there were Hard Rocks. There's only so much pizza and pasta you can eat before craving something American. I finally figured out that thick sliced pancetta is like bacon, so we can have bacon and eggs for breakfast! That only took 9 months...
Funny! But like I always say to my husband, we live here now, why would we still not go to these places? If we still lived in the UK I would go to them, so why not here! If they are now part of the food culture, what the heck really!
Bill2's point about tourists is valid, but I have been in that situation where I needed something familiar rather than fighting with a menu and unfamiliar recipes in a language I then barely spoke, never mind read! The memory that comes to mind is a short trip we made to Rome when we were staying up at a villa in the Maremma. We were staying in a really great hotel and were planning on having a memorable time - instead when we arrived I had a really bad cold and fever and felt like poo! We ended up in MacDonalds much to my OH's disgust, but with no taste buds and the need to pass out in a pool of sweat Michelin or Gambero Rosso type food would have been wasted!
Agreed Gil. The disheartening bit- they didn't put it in Mestre, where it could serve as an urban renewal project, but directly across from the Doge's Palace. What's next, a Chuck E. Cheese in the Basilica?
They only good thing I can think of is that it will give Italians a chance to taste some English/American style food that is way better than McD's. It always bothers me to know that many Italians think a Big Mac is typical of what we eat in the US.
This has always puzzled me- why do people spend thousands to fly to Italy, and then spend their time in a place just like home?
This has always puzzled me too. I wouldn't go out of my way to go to a place like that at home and definitely not on vacation.
I guess that I hate these chains so much that I'd rather gamble on the small locals.
I'm with you both. I don't care for the major chains and I don't seek out "American" food in when I'm in any other country (actually, I did look for Italian food in Japan). Though, I manage a bunch of (American) men (OK, they mostly act like boys) and when we travel overseas for business multiple times each year I'm always amazed at how strongly a few of them are still drawn to McDonald's...like a magnet (& they'd be likely to head for the Hard Rock in Venice). We often shake our heads at how they'll pass up a totally happening dinner with the rest of us to hunt down a McDonald's. I suppose when they're on the road for weeks on end they find it familiar comfort food rather than having to guess unfamiliar foods listed on a menu in a foreign language, as some have pointed out. I must admit, if I haven't a clue about a menu in a foreign land I usually look for an Italian restaurant.
Posts: 14 | Location (City & State): San Francisco Bay Area | Registered: 10 October 2008
I have travelled with Italian friends (and my kids) who insist on eating pasta, etc. in Paris, Madrid, etc. and most recently with my son on Mykonos. I went to visit him and spent every evening in Tuscan restaurants...he managed to find every Tuscan on the island who had a restaurant so he could eat his fiorentina and other Tuscan dishes (he wouldn't even go to a restaurant owned by Emiliani - "they don't have good food"). I don't think he even tried Greek food in his six months on the island. So we are not alone in our desire for comfort/homeland (?) food.
Posts: 281 | Location (City & State): Numana (AN) | Registered: 29 November 2006
Originally posted by Vicky: I have travelled with Italian friends (and my kids) who insist on eating pasta, etc. in Paris, Madrid, etc. and most recently with my son on Mykonos.
Lol- this reminds me of my neighbor Silvano. He told me about a vacation he took to Germania once- the hotel restaurant served only big meat dishes with heavy gravy etc. He got sick and wouldn't eat it anymore. So he stuck his head into the kitchen and found a couple of Italians working there. For the rest of his vacation, he ate with them in the backroom: pasta, vegetables, fruit- just like home!
Originally posted by jhelm: They only good thing I can think of is that it will give Italians a chance to taste some English/American style food that is way better than McD's. It always bothers me to know that many Italians think a Big Mac is typical of what we eat in the US.
This is so true. The best meat I've ever had it's been American in the USA. And if you have never tasted a burger in the northwestern USA you don't know what a true hamburger is.
The chain Roadhouse grill in Italy is the nearest (although a pale imitation)thing.
When I first moved here I really craved non-Italian food. There is just only so much pasta and pizza a girl can eat (if she's not used to it of course!) I was used to a much more varied diet. Anyway, we've managed to find fab Indian food, Ethiopian, Japanese and Chinese here in Rome although I've had no luck with American food. I wonder if that's because a lot of Italians think that McDonald's is American food (which it's not IMO!) There is this one "American" burger type restaurant I went to here in Rome (something junction I think) and it was awful - soggy burger buns, gristly meat. Maybe I should try the Hard Rock Cafe? I was kind of put off by its tourityness. Hmmm...maybe as a special post-birthday treat. I would kill for a decent cheeseburger.
Actually we're going to NY in January and the first thing on the agenda is to go to the Corner Bistro in the Village for a burger and fries-and beer-
What Vicky says is true - unfortunately I know many otherwise open minded Italians who eat Italian food while on vacation. For me, eating foreign food is part of the pleasure of travelling. The only reason I got sick of Itlaian food is that I live here. If you're here for a week surely you can subsist on local cuisine.
For me, taking an Italian to Hard Rock Cafe for authentic American traditional cooking is analogous to taking an American to Olive Garden for authentic Italian traditional cooking. Only my opinion though, others may feel it's the real thing.
Please, go to Southern Spain! 2 out of 3 cafes now only do "English" food - egg and chips, sausage and chips, sausage and mash potato, tea, full English breadfast! This is what happens when people refuse to eat the local cuisine. You really have to search for a good tapas bar or restaurant making anything like Spanish food. Shouldn't forget the pubs selling Watneys either ! And if you don't want English then you can have German! Kraut and wurstel with more beer!
That's intersting. Never been to Spain but I would be really surprised to be able to eat a full English breakfast there!
We get lots of German and English guests at our B&B and they seem really excited to sample the local cuisine. Is it a different type of German or English tourist who goes to Spain?
The southern coast from Marbella up past Malaga used to be nicknamed the Costa del Blackpool 'cos of the vast number of Brits who live and holiday there! It really is a remarkable experience - maybe you should try it! My OH splits his time between here, the UK and Mijas which is in the hills just up from Fuengirola.
When I go I contemplate the English food but I like all things deep fried and the Spanish deep fry is among the best. They even deep fry club sandwiches - honestly! It is a sight to behold! They cut a hole in the top of the sandwich and put a fried egg in it - soo rich! I also love the spicy prawns in garlic butter! Yum!
Expats in Italy Forum 
Funny! But like I always say to my husband, we live here now, why would we still not go to these places? If we still lived in the UK I would go to them, so why not here! If they are now part of the food culture, what the heck really! 
Maybe I should try the Hard Rock Cafe? I was kind of put off by its tourityness. Hmmm...maybe as a special post-birthday treat. I would kill for a decent cheeseburger.
