The "secret" to the Italians being slim is that they have an insane appreciation for quality (be it for food, drink, clothes, ...) whereas in the UK we are very focused on value. So, yes, the percentage of carbs that they eat as a whole of their diet is pretty high but they just don't eat as much as us Brits... This can be seen in how they consume icecream: They'll have an icecream quite often but it will typically be out and about at an artisanal "gelateria" (just a few scoops) whereas we love to buy tubs of ice cream. Also they don't go overboard on the drinking. An italian will happily go out and have 2 drinks. I think everybody knows what the Brits get up to after the sun sets. Finally, bear in mind that they walk quite a lot around town and that a lot of the italian cities are hilly (Perugia for example is a workout just walking around)

Anna, the bidet is also present in every house. And what we Italians are shocked to observe when we go abroad is its absence as we find it inconceivable not to have one.

We are so slim because we don't eat bread with...butter!!

Nice video! A couple of considerations: 1. It's not a "pump", more like a foot-operated tap: you don't have to pump water, you just press the lever and water flows. 6. It's quite simple: don't overcook pasta! In a London restaurant where I worked, they told me that "only Italians like their pasta al dente", but I can't believe that. 9. WE DO HAVE SPEED CAMERAS! You definitely risk a fine if you don't take care. On regular roads you can find both fixed cameras and police patrols with laser speed meters, especially where a main road enters a village/town/whatever. On highways there are speed cameras AND the so-called "tutor" system: they get shots of every car and compare the passing time in various points so you can't just slow down in front of the camera and get back to speed just thereafter. 10. Of course. Because of #5 :) . Seriously, though, the average diet you see in restaurants is a bit different than what we eat at home. We do eat quite a lot of vegetables, legumes, soups, salads, meat, fish. And fruit. I hate that restaurants never have fruit.

I'm Italian and I couldn't live without my bidet!

I'm Italian, I've been in england, germany, france, spain..and I'm still wondering why it is so difficult for other countries to make a good pizza or pasta 😂 there's no struggle, I swear 😂

Toilet paper is not enough for us, we want our butt to shine.

Anna! I smiled throughout the video! It's so beautiful to see how foreigners see my country and the funniest part was when you talked about the bidet 😂😂 I'm leaving for London in two weeks and you can't even imagine how bad I feel for its absence 😂

As a (very slim😂) Italian, I guess one of the reasons not many people down here are overweight is that fast foods have never been excessively popular, especially in smaller towns and cities. Except for Rome, Milan and other metropolis, McDonald's restaurants are very few and far between and other fast food chains are virtually non-existent. I'm nearly 20 and I could count on my fingers the times I went to a fast food, and it was when I was abroad! Same for Starbucks, which I think has only recently opened in Milan. You will probably have noticed that whilst staying here! That very Mediterranean diet you mentioned is indeed our secret 😎

All these things seem so common to Italians, but it's fascinating to see they are extraordinary to non-Italian people :D By the way, Italian ladies never seat on public toilets, they squat even when there is a toilet XD (Probably because the bathrooms are never clean...)

Hi, I am actually from Italy! About the "all slim" thing, the secret is that we do not eat very often in restaurants. On the contrary, an average Italian would go to a restaurant not more than 1 time a week, usually on Saturday or Friday night (often is lesser than that. Every other day we eat at home and the normal lunch is something like a pasta with salad aside; for dinner we tend to eat meat (red meat not more than twice a week, so not much fat), fish or legumes with both cooked and fresh vegetables. Also mind that we do not use so much butter or other grease except for a little extra virgin olive oil, which is in fact very low fat. More over we usually do not eat so much in one single meal, we prefer to have snacks or fruit during the day to keep up with the sugar and apparently this helps a lot! Last but not least we eat very little sugar, many don not use it at all; same things goes with desserts, we like them a lot but it is common to have them just once a week or even not...they tend to be use for special occasions only. Anyway, nice video, made me smile a lot! Oh and just one more thing! I did find a "Turk" (at leat we call them like this in Italy: Turca) - that hole-in-the-floor toilet you mentioned - in a pub in London! I really can not recall the name of the pub, but it was near Trafalgar square (I know that this info helps like a math in a snowstorm, but still it is something). Bye!

Lack of speed cameras? Then why am I getting so many fines?

I loved the video ❤ England and Italy are my favourite places in the world, and I've been learning English with your channel since the beginning and now I'm also learning Italian and everyday I'm more in love with both cultures ❣

Research shows that the most efficient way to learn a language is to listen to a story, so you actually forget, that you learn a language. Your little story here is a perfect lesson.

Thank you for watching, please LIKE and SUBSCRIBE! If you are interested in following my travel adventures: kzfaq.info

Well, as a biotechnologist, I will expose to you their secret. They eat good carbs. There are two types of carbs: «bad», which are simple sugars, and «good», which are complex carbs( pasta). Furthermore, they love eating olive oil and I am pretty sure that they have much better quality of vegetables and fruits than you have in the UK. Hope it makes sense)

This thing about not having bidet in england is something we constantly bring up to mock you heavily 😂

The seatless loos are known as 'squat toilets' in Japan! In fact, they're cleverly made, because you don't have to touch anything!

Never express your surprise about the bidet in any Italian bathroom to an Italian. Pretend that using bidet after toilet is something, which goes without saying for you. Otherwise Italians would look down on you as on a savage unfamiliar with basic hygienic habits.

We also have bidets here in Argentina...

Thank you for sharing your experience in Italy, Anna. You and Papa English are amazing teachers (I guess you know him). You inspire me.

Italians love England! Grazie for your comments and appreciation. Saluti dall'Italia:-))

As an Italian I think your English spoken is clear very understandable and lovely

I had to watch this video since I am Italian! How you manage without a bidet baffles me, its literally the ONLY thing I miss about my country when I am abroad... I almost hug it when I come home! Here in the North we use butter a bit more than in the south. And yes, you overcook pasta and here pizza is a religion lol. You said buonissimo right but pizza is female so it's buonissima 😊

speed cameras in Italy are just hidden, they take a picture of the rear of your car and on most motorways you have devices that take your mean speed and, again, a picture of the rear reg if you are too fast. In Italy is forbidden to have the read number plate unreadable, you can be fined even if it is just dirty. Regarding the bidet, I have one in my main bathroom in Ireland, I'm Italian after all.

Hi Anna!!! In all your videos I really enjoy your pronunciation!! So clear so beautiful!! Thank you so much!

This video was so interesting! Makes me want to visit Italy. I'd love if you do more of these about other countries you've travelled :)

I hope that you enjoyed Italy! I visited London last April, I loved it! It's so interesting the comparison between our cultures, thanks for sharing this video ❤

You're an inspiration .. Keep up the good work! Cheers from Morocco!

what an interesting and funny video Anna!! Congrats!!

Nothing but LOVE for you Anna;-) keep up the good work...such a bae & a inspiration.

The reason why there aren't many vegetables in restaurants is that we eat them at home in our daily life, and we don't eat very often at the restaurant. We have a healthy diet and we use restaurants as a way to indulge in all sorts of "forbidden pleasures".

Hello Hannah! I am Italian, lovely to hear that you had fun in Italy. We do have street cameras however, maybe not as much as in the UK, but definitely we have and loads of fines are sent every day xD

Bathrooms are sacred in Italy; the most important room after kitchen! Foot pumps, seatless loos are present in crowded and promiscuous places that must be cleaned frequently; generally women toilet have seats though. Some toilet bowls must be flushed with knee buttons! And some toilets (especially in places like Universities) even doors have no handles (and open automatically through photocells just for hygiene purposes). For all I know, bidets are a mandatory fixture also in many arabic countries. In many asian countries there are nozzles right beside toilets; not to mention the famous super technological Japanese toilets, with integrated bidets.

It’s a brilliant idea to have a bidet in the bathroom!! Indeed it is. How can one live without the bidet in the bathroom ? Hugs, Andrea from Venice, Italy

I'm glad to see you again on KZfaq, these videos are quite interesting to see, many greetings

I'm really happy that you enjoyed my country so much! 😊 come again! 😊

Thank you very much for teaching us British humor!

Ahahahah! I really liked this video because you were so genuine and funny in your comments!😊😊😊 I live in Malta now and I miss my bidet a lot!😊😊😊I'm pleased that you ate well. 😊

Awesome. Thanks for the video. I’ m really excited to visit London one day. Now I know the difference and what to expect. Godbless. Stay safe💕

I love all your videos Anna

Great and nice video! Thanks from an italian that love my food, my wine..... and my bidet :)))))

I think Italians are slim because of two factors: we look to the quality of the food (and not to the nutritional contents) and we’re more concerned about our physical form (we love to go out and dress well, so we like that people have a good image of ourselves)

Hi Anna, Lovely stuff as it's good to speak about cultures. I love that, to learn both, English, new vocab, and about different cultures. Would you please keep it up and make more similar videos. Regards, Ahmad,

Thanks Anna, I enjoyed your video a lot! When I was in Italy I also wondered about the strings in the showers and I assumed it must be some kind of alarm. Now I know thanks to your clarification.

I'm Italian, I loved your video!

Awasome Anna!

Ana...you're not only my favorite teacher...but my favorite person as well !!! 😄

Actually speed cameras are quite numerous also in Italy. They're almost invisible because seldom placed on traffic lights or electronic boards. Anyway yes, we drive quite a bit too fast in general.

Nice video, keep it up

Great job

Loved it! Really entertaining, and now I know why in the videogame UK Truck Simulator you always get caught up when speeding up above the limits!

Hi, Anna. I've loved your video and the way you've structured it. First, food and fluids out. Second, food in. Your comments on driving in Italy and how slim Italians are were also very interesting. Thank you heaps!

Thank u mam for such a information

Benissimo ;) I am learning both Italian and British English, because my husband is Italian but he is living in the UK. I am Indonesian and I used to speak my mother language, Bahasa Indonesia. I hope my brain doesn't twisted 😂😂😂

Not a lesson? This kind of lesson is actually the best way of learning the language. Please do more. You can talk about everything.

What a lovely video

Thanks for the video ,I hope you had very good time in Italy, it would be much more fun if you have taken some picture just to see these useful tricky things .

Thank's for sharing your experience, Anna. They way u r narrating is lovely, specially about the tap funny, embarrassing , what an experience!

We italians are so slim because we don't eat bread and butter.

I love Italy, I love the UK and ai looove your lessons. ❤️

Hi Anna great lesson thanks a lot You're amazing teacher Have a nice week

I'm an Italian woman living in Rome (and I've lived for a decade in the UK - that is, Scotland and London). It's not at all true that Italians don't eat much in the way of vegetables, salad or fruit; I don't know what restaurants you've been eating at in Italy, but clearly you identify "Italian food" (which is massively varied anyway) as pretty much just pasta and pizza - a very simplistic and clichéd notion, to be perfectly honest. Pasta is a first course, as is rice (risotto) or polenta. Second courses, side courses and starters are richer in vegetables and non-carbs than in most other cuisines anywhere in the world. Italians eat LOTS of veg and Italian cooking as a general rule is chockfull of it. There are countless recipes for veg-based dishes without carbs and they are as Italian as you can get - only someone with a very stereotyped view of Italian food would not know this. Butter on bread? Why should it be served in Italy, if this is clearly not a part of our culinary culture? It would be like expecting Britons to have apple strudel or sauerkraut habitually on the menu. Last but not least, the little cord thing you speak of next to the shower isn't that common here in Italy: I must have come across it just a couple of times in my life.

Nice video. Ciao from Italy.

I don't usually comment on videos, but I enjoyed this one so much as an Italian! :) We do have speed cameras but a lot of us learns where they are...so if you drove really fast it was because that street didn't have them

You are amazing!!!! xx

Hi Anna❤ We do have speed cameras, we call them "autovelox". I don't know if they're exactly the same thing but they should be very similar. They're usually on motorways :) I hope you liked Italy, I want to visit England so badly!Lots of love xx

There may be few to no speeding cameras, but mobile units with laser pistols, either hidden behind something or using a civilian car. Also speeding tickets in Italy aren't exactly cheap. So I hope you didn't drive in mph what was allowed in kph ;-)

Anna, you are right in all your observations! You are gorgeous on close-up video like this one, looking in your eyes I found you so familiar you look almost Italian I was even forgetting you were speaking in English! Awesome!

You are a very interesting teacher. I've got some education by watching this video. Great work!

Hello my lovely teacher it’s very helpful video thank you

I'm British and I do so miss my bidet when I go back to England

I always follow your videos but in this video I had so much fun because I’m italian and I agree with these differences! good Italian pronunciation 😂

Thanks

You are the best female English Teach on the whole KZfaq; and your lessons are way more comprehensive than others’.

I think that the majority of the population in Italy is so slim because we eat most of the fat and high-carbs meal in the restaurants, but we don't go eating out that much. And the food that we cook at home is usually healthy-is, probably because we don't even use that much fat and our main fat is olive oil. But I also have to say that in the south of Italy the traditional cuisine is very fat and you will notice definitely a change in people shape. Hope that this would not be offensive for anyone also because southern Italian food would be maybe fatty, but also really good!

Italians are mostly slim due to their so called Mediterranean diet, not a stressful life and they don't eat junk food. The eating habits are very strong and are taught from the very childhood

Mi hai fatto morire dal ridere, sei simpaticissima. Grazie.

I watched all the way through. Very entertainingly instructional. I never get to travel as I do cytogenetics for cancer diagnostics but one day if I get to visit England and Italy I will have this information! Thank you! 😊

Hi, very nice channel I think people are slimmer in Italy because we are not having so much processed food, we are not used to go to fast food so often (even because we don’t have many), or having a lot of sugary snack, (most of these things are coming too because of big company taking over.. that’s another sad story...) and unfortunately we have an enormous pressure “to be skinny” from tv and media really worrying especially for new generations, since I moved in London I noticed a huge difference in diet habits that people have, for example we don’t fried so much, or for example fruit juices are full of additional sugar, when in Italy they haven’t. but in the other side here in Uk I feel that all that pressure goes away here people are less concerned how much you weight.. just to give you another example in Italy your CV should be with a picture of your face (most of the time if without a picture you are not even considered). Btw, the only things Italians really miss in Uk (and other countries) is the bidet 😂, I think was actually invented by French, not sure, but if it was it’s unbelievable because they don’t use it ! 😂😂

If you go to the Barbican Centre in London. U use feet to get water too.

Very nice your italian pronunciation Anna....😉😊👍

I belive the secret is the fact that Italy has a very strong cycling culture. And they eat a lot of carb but wholemeal though, which leaves you without any hunger for a long time :)

I have a bidet in one of my bathrooms. I do not use it much, but my wife does it.

As italian native, i loved this video so much! :D thank you for all of your appreciations too! :*

It is really interesting, and I enjoy this video very much, おもしろいです

You should come to Brazil, Anna! You'd be mine teacher on the British language and I to learn speak Portuguese! I LOVE TO LISTEN YOU ANNA!

Buenissimo !!! 🤗🌸

Hi. Thank you

Are not floor pumps, are just floor taps: are mainly used in public places for hygienic reasons. Everyone open the tap with dirty hands and when you close it they will be dirty again...

You have great communication skills which I would like to improve I like to try different accents.Are you from italy?

Such a funny video thanks. I've been in England 5/6 times and i noticed that our food is very different not just for recipe itself but for prime materials and ingredients. We do not put super-fat sauces on our salads, for example, we just use raw olive oil (ingredient that i never found outside of Italy). Sanwiches too, we do not use cheese-bread, sauces again or anything special to give them taste... we just put some very good ham(crudo, cotto, mortadella or speck) with some letuce/mozzarella and it becomes a wonderful panino :D Obviously there is a portion of population that is fat too here in Italy

We have foot pump because taps (I'm not sure - that's how is called in English the lever or similar to get the water out?) in a public bathroom are dirty. After all, what have you probably touched before touching the tap? :D Also, the squatting position, while uncomfortable, seems like it's actually the best position for your bowels' health during those certain moments.

Welcome in Italy Anna!

Hi Anne! Nice to discover your channel - which is great! 👍 - right as I'm travelling through Britain, heading toward Ireland. I'm always curious about different perspectives on familiar things and I'll give you some feedback. 1. Foot pumps. In fact they aren't "pumps", they're actually "floor taps", if I can call them so. What you press down with your foot just opens or closes the flow of water. This is for hygienic reasons, so you don't have to touch a thing other people has touched after cleaning your hands. 2. Shower string. I know how you felt when you found out what it was 😱 but in fact it's compulsory by law. It helps prevent death by digestive congestion, which is a thing in Italy, ad it happens more frequently in a warmer climate where people tends to take colder showers - especially during summer. 3. Bidet. Yes, we know we're the only ones using It (except French people, who in fact invented it), and we really miss it when we're abroad. We are always shocked when we hear for the first time that in most Countries it isn't used. In fact, showering often is a quite recent habit in Italy, while traditionally we used to clean different body parts separately. 4. Seatless loos. I completely agree with you. It's called "alla turca" ("Turkish style") and it's terribile. It's mainly for men though, even if you can actually find places where it's the only toilet available, so women must adapt themselves... 5. Bread & butter. Butter is rarely used at all in southern Italy. Its use is more common in the northern regions, but no, we don't usually don't spread it on bread except at breakfast - many people prefer bread spread with butter and fruit jam to industrial biscuits. 6. Superb pasta & 7. Perfect pizza. Well what to say... 😎😎😎 (and you pronounced "buonissimo" perfectly! 😉) 8. Drive right. As for the bidet, but reversed... come on, you're the only ones driving left 😝. Well, almost. 9. Speed cameras. We should learn from you. There are so many accidents due to speeding, and they cause so many deaths we could avoid... we care about deaths in the shower and then we drive carelessly... what a crazy Country 😔 10. All so slim. In fact many people (and all women) in Italy are almost obsessed with being slim. This isn't good at all for women, many cases of depression or even anorexia depend from this. Anyway, if you avoid extremes, mediterranean diet (and limiting the use of butter and sugar) helps a lot. You don't need to, anyway - you're already slim! A big hug! Tiziano

:-D Hello Anna!! As an Italian I can say that your "buonissimo" (very good) and "arrivederci" (see you soon) pronunciation are EXCELLENT. A super hug :-)

I' m Italian, from Turin, and I must say that in our family we do not eat so much, just one meal a day with some appetizers, that I love so much, and a first or a second course. Probably we eat genuine food, as we pay great attention to the quality. Then physical exsercises are very important. I could never give up to my bidet. Thanj you for this amusing video

Where have you been?Nice vid i sub

Secret for good pasta -> heat water first, and add pasta ONLY when water is boiling. And follow the exact cooking time marked on the packaging: if it is 11 minutes, then don’t wait any longer, or it won’t be “al dente” :)

Italy is one of the countries in Europe with the most speed radars