The French and the Italians spend more time than anyone else in the world at the table

The French and the Italians spend more time than anyone else in the world at the table, revealed OECD data. In Mediterranean countries, more time is spent eating and drinking than in any other area on the planet. Despite the hectic pace of everyday life, the increasingly skimpy and often out-of-home lunch time meal, in Mediterranean countries especially, attention to well-being and nutrition at table time is sacred to enjoy the pleasures of good company and good food. Because when food calls you, together with a glass of good wine, it takes time to savor it or to “chow down”, like the actor Alberto Sordi says to the plate of “macaroni” that "provoked” him in the famous film “An American in Rom”.

And, according to OECD data, France and Italy are in the top positions for time spent at the table, respectively 2 hours and 15 minutes and 2 hours and 5 minutes a day. It’s a fun ranking that sees Greece in third place, at 2 hours and 4 minutes a day, just a couple minutes ahead of Spain in position number 4 at 2 hours and 2 minutes. The "intruder", in this ranking is Denmark, because the Danes spend 2 hours every day at the table, and are ahead of Portugal, at 1 hour and 47 minutes. Closing out the “top 10” as AdnKronos reported, South Africa, at 1 hour and 8 minutes, Canada, at 1 hour and 4 minutes, the United States at 1 hour and 2 minutes, and the Netherlands, at exactly one hour.