I recently spent a week in Italy, and have these first-hand observations about the different eating habits between Americans and Italians. Granted, I was there as a tourist, but here are my impressions:

1.  I didn't see one fast food restaurant my entire trip, even though I spent a lot of time in large cities. That's right, zip. The typical American eats fast food an average of two times per week. That seems low to me, especially since I drive by McD's at least twice each day, and I live in a small town of only 2000 people.

2.  Italians drink wine with their meals. I grew up drinking milk with my meals, and in fact that continues to be the mealtime beverage of choice in my house, even for adults. Drinking wine in moderate amounts, along with the rest of the meal, is associated with increased overall health. It looks like the Italians are on to something.

3.  Italians use a lot of olive oil. While olive oil consumption has defintely gone up world-wide over the past few years as we learn more about its health benefits, Americans still use less olive oil than Italians. The typical Italian family of four uses about a quart of olive oil per week!

4.  It seems that Americans carry something with us to drink wherever we go:  a bottle of water, can of soda, bottle of juice. I didn't see one person walking along with a water bottle my entire trip.

5.  Italians shop for groceries more often. Their refrigerators are smaller, so they can store less food. While big supermarkets are becoming more popular, many people still shop on almost a daily basis.

6.  Food portions in Italy are definitely smaller than in the US. It seemed like we were served about half the amount we might expect, but we always had plenty to eat. Eating larger portions of food is one of the main reasons why we're becoming more overweight as a nation.

7.  Dinnertime in the US averages around 6pm. We never went out to eat earlier than 8:30pm in Italy, and more often it was 9pm. In the small town where I live, restaurant kitchens are closing up around 9pm.

8.  I finally figured out why Italian restaurants in the US have so many food courses on their menu - that's the way they eat in Italy. In the US, I usually order only two courses, perhaps an appetizer and pasta, or appetizer and fish or chicken. In Italy, we routinely ate antipasti, a pasta course, a fish or meat course (often accompanied by more pasta) and then dessert.

9.  Italians eat slowly and enjoy their meals. Businesses close at noontime for a couple of hours so everyone can go home and enjoy a leisurely meal. In the US, we're lucky if we even get to take a lunch break. Dinners took at least 3 hours in Italy; in the US if I spend over one hour in a restaurant I'm complaining about the slow service.