Do you ever share a meal?

My husband and I will split a plate of pasta when we eat out at home (Boston pizza is always happy to split it onto two plates for us)...like you, even tho we are ‘only’ middle age, our appetites are smaller (I wish the waistlines would react accordingly). There is even a burger place where we will order a burger and cut it in half...otherwise, we end up wasting food.

When we travel, a lot of times we will share a pizza...I don’t know how one person can eat what they call a personal size pizza! (And what I call a pizza for two). We’ve done this pretty much everywhere...Italy, France, UK...we’ve never tried sharing a pasta dish between us...like you, I’m afraid trying to explain that wouldn’t work.

I’m interested to know if it’s ‘frowned upon’ as well. We should have done that when we were in London a few weeks ago. Hubby and I both ordered some rigatoni and neither of us could finish it.

I have shared meals throughout Europe with hubby. A lot of time, we each order a small something (salad, appetizer etc). I don't think we have ever asked to have it split back at the kitchen but will either ask for a plate or eat what we want and then trade. I find the sizes are smaller in most places we have gone to compared to the US's let's feed half the neighborhood size. Enjoy Italy.

We split the food ourselves onto our own plates. We never ask the wait people to do that. It's just simpler.

It helps to know the phrase that is used in the local language, otherwise they can't be sure exactly what you're asking.

I just order smaller dishes or appetizers instead of trying to split something (or asking the waiter to do it). Italian dishes, especially side dishes, are not as heavy or large as American portions. I don't know if splitting a meal is frowned upon as much as it's just something others are not accustomed to as a typical request.

Keep in mind meal sizes are much smaller in Italy than in the US.

Sue, we'll often split an appetizer and/or dessert but order our own primo or secondo (we rarely order from secondo lists). As Nancy said, we've found portion sizes generally more manageable in Italy than at home! We also split pizzas unless they're clearly 'personal' size...which they rarely are or so has been our experience.

Hubby and I were having a discussion over coffee this morning about
adjusting to later dinner times and eating large meals so late.

Willing to duck the hail of veg for this but we almost never eat "large" or "late" in Italy, custom or not. We've found some very good places open before the 7:00 hour - two in Florence that I specifically recall* - or we show up right AT the 7:00 opening hour. We're very early risers and don't eat lunch, just grab an afternoon snack, so we're usually pooped and hungry before other folks' dining hours! It has never been an issue although we admittedly don't frequent posh restaurants, either.

(*) Those two were Ciro and Sons (6:00) and Francesco Vini (open all day).

I agree with the other replies - don't assume the meals will be so large, or the dining times so late.

I'm not sure what you consider "late dining." The further south you go in Italy, the later the standard dining time. So, many places in Rome will indeed open at 8 PM, but Rome being large and filled with tourists (many of whom want earlier dining), there will also be places to get dinner earlier. Your other areas will eat a bit earlier. It's been years since I've been in the Dolomites, but I remember dinner was definitely earlier than in other parts of Italy (their Austrian heritage shows in many ways, and that's one of them).

As for portions, they are definitely smaller in Italy than in the US. The meals are also a la carte - primi (first courses), secondi (second courses), contorni (vegetables), etc are all ordered separately, so it's easy to just order fewer items. I agree that if you want to split a single order of a dish, learn the local phrase for this, and be prepared to do the splitting yourself.

Our usual supper time at home is around 5-5:30. (It's the way it was growing up!) But we certainly had some late meals on our last trip - generally because our whole schedule is off with the time difference - we were eating a big meal in Salon at about 8:30...same in London - around 7-8pm. One evening, we couldn't find a place we wanted to eat and ended up back at the airbnb making pasta at 9:30pm! And I always find because we are on the go so much, we don't notice the time until our bellies started rumbling - throw in grazing on gelato, drinking lots of water and whatnot in the afternoons and then the hunger pains didn't kick in until later.

If we’re not overly hungry, one will order a regular meal and the other just a side salad or appetizer.

In Italy, we have eaten in Rome, Florence, Verona, Torino, Bologna, Cinque Terre, Portovenere, and Milan. We typically order an appetizer, a main, a dessert, and wine. We tell the waiter that we are sharing everything and they either bring us extra plates or split the order in the kitchen.

Our appetites have somehow discovered the Fountain of Youth!

I have had no issues asking to split a dish in Italy.

If we have light appetites, we'll each order an appetizer. It works for us.

I spent May in Italy and had no trouble finding plenty of open places to eat. We usually ate dinner around 6 PM.

Splitting is common. Just say “Uno per due” and the waitperson will understand. We tend to eat like Kathy mentioned: share an antipasto and order our own primo or secondo plus a contorno to share. We also split dessert if we get that far.

As to dining times consider the reasons for eating later. If it is hot, it is far more pleasant to eat late. We ate about 9pm in summer there, never before 8pm other seasons. Why? It’s social, it’s tradition, it’s how the locals do it. We like to be in a restaurant with the locals and not the Germans and North American who eat at 6.

Why do the locals eat later? After work one might do the shopping and take a walk (the passiagiatta). They also work later hours than Americans and offices don’t close at 5pm like they do here. As a tourist, eating later can afford you the opportunity to tour later (some museums are open past 6pm and it is a nice time to go). If it is a hot day and you rest in the afternoon eat, then slip out about 6pm for an aperitivo and a museum visit, dinner at 8 or 9 pm works out nicely.

Almost every meal. In nearly 15 years of international travel we’ve only has one place scoff at us and it was a snotty (but excellent) restaurant near the Roman Forum. The waitress just could not believe we were sharing a pizza. She did laugh after we started to joke with her about American stereotypes.

Love all of your replies. "Uno per due" Got it.

Five weeks from today, we are in the air.

Getting very excited.

In France, we did this with pizza all the time. No problem.

When asked about this in relation to dining (not eating pizza) in France, our guide said it simply is not done there. I'm not saying that you couldn't do it, but you would be not acting in the cultural norm.

not normal in europe but then we tend to have much smaller portions than in the US.

We like to be in a restaurant with the locals and not the Germans and North American who eat at 6.

What's wrong with eating alongside Germans and North Americans?

I eat when I want to and when it suits what I'm doing. When I was in Rome last it was with a group of friends and we were eating dinner around 21.00 / 22.00 but that was usually because we'd had a large and relatively late lunch and we were staying out later but when travelling as a family with young children we eat earlier, usually around 18.00. It doesn't matter who I'm surrounded by when I'm eating as it has absolutely no bearing on my meal. Why would it matter if the table next to me were German tourists or locals? Does my meal suddenly become more "authentic" if I'm sat next to a local? If anything I've found conversation is more likely to be struck up if you are sat next to other tourists.

Why do the locals eat later? After work one might do the shopping and
take a walk (the passiagiatta). They also work later hours than
Americans and offices don’t close at 5pm like they do here.

Offices close at 5?? My office in Manhattan and my husband's office in Brooklyn close when the last person leaves which is typically between 9-10pm. It depends on the deadline of projects.

We like to be in a restaurant with the locals and not the Germans and
North American who eat at 6.

Wow....Germans AND an entire continent of people all eat at 6pm. One of the many things I love about Rick Steves is his philosophy about travel. For him, the best souvenir one brings home from travel is "a broader perspective". How right he is.

My husband loves seafood and I hate it. We sometimes eat in shifts. He'll have oysters while I have a glass of wine. We'll go to a different restaurant where I'll have dinner and he'll have an appetizer. And then maybe we'll take a walk and end up somewhere else for dessert and coffee. It's kind of nice to draw it out like that. And I like it better than being disappointed in the non-sea offerings in a seafood place.

What JC said...If anything I've found conversation is more likely to be struck up if you are sat next to other tourists...

So true - we were at a restaurant in Corniglia and struck up a convo with a gal from New Zealand beside us - we talked for at least 2 hrs. Just eating at a place at Heathrow and chatted with a couple from Denmark who were heading for Canada. I'm sure I could come up with other examples if I put my mind to it. No issues chatting with other 'tourists' at meal time.

Sorry if I offended anyone. I just think it is a lot more fun to eat where locals eat (how many times are we asked about where to find places locals eat?) and at an hour when the locals eat. We eat earlier in the north because that is what they do. We dine late in Paris, earlier (7-ish) in the Dolomites, later in Venice, and so on. We ate at 7 pm in Munich. That would be very early for most Italians I know.

In Italy specifically, the restaurants that are open at 6 pm are not where I choose to eat because I don't think they offer the best of what Italy has to offer. If you do want to broaden your horizons, try to understand why people do what they do in a location.

And while many people work late in every country, standard office hours in Italian cities are much later than in the U.S. My Italian colleagues had office hours until 7 pm while we closed the Embassy at 5 pm. But they never ate at their desks and had (at least) two-hour lunches. They started later, too, overall.

BTW, never had anyone in any country tell us sharing was not done. We've shared at least one of our courses in Paris, Dijon, London, Edinburgh, Munich, Luzern, and more without any pushback by the waitperson. Perhaps because we order a bottle of wine they are OK with our sharing an antipasto? We never share a pizza, though. I'd lose out to my pizza-crazed spouse.

No problem eating at 6 pm or soon afterwards with the Germans and North Americans. We did exactly that in a southern French beach town in July 2011 where the neighboring tables were occupied by Germans and other Americans. This was after 7 pm, very nice, spoke French to French waiters, even though their English was fluent, spoke German to one of the German couples.

We usually share meals on holiday. For our trip to Italy this June we often ordered 1 starter and 1 main to share. Should have looked up the correct phrase! This will help next time, thanks!

In Paris we ordered two main courses, split an appetizer and a dessert. Every restaurant was comfortable with that, as best we could tell.