Must be true - nobody has EVER seen a fat Italian. ;)
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It’s not the pasta, its the wine.
Actually, I think it’s the pasta, oil and cheese. Plus they fry everything, breaded.
I am married to an Italian family (although I no longer see them), but everything they cooked was soaked in oil, salt, breaded, fried. Vegetables were never steamed...they always had to be done in a fattening way, for flavour. Many of the women didn’t drink much wine, and they were heavy, but that could also be too much cortisol because of the stress....but that’s another subject.
...or the cannoli.