.italiaball/puck.

The ballgame’s in the refrigerator, the door is closed

Posted on January 23rd, 2008 by Lango.
Categories: baseball, codogno, food.

One of the great traditions of baseball in Italy is the post-practice pizzeria trip. Over the course of four seasons (this coming season being my fifth in Italy), I wouldn’t even be able to render a guess at how many times I’ve found myself amongst teammates, mouths watering, awaiting arrival of that round, fully customizable creation from heaven.

With all our practices being at night, and often finishing around 11pm, it’s not uncommon to still be working on a pizza and a birra media (regular beer) after midnight a few nights a week. So, essentially, we work out at practice, including conditioning work, and then go gorge ourselves on pizza, insalata di mare (seafood salad), pane (bread), and beer. Not to mention, of course, the obligatory caffè following the meal as well (sometimes with grappa or sambuca), because it is apparently illegal in Italy to pass up any opportunity to drink coffee, even if approaching 1am.

Early on, well before I became a veteran pizzeria-goer, I made the mistake of not joining in the feast like the others (ordering, for example, only a salad). This is not a wise idea, unless you enjoy financing your teammates’ meals and drinks. That is because we ‘pay in the style of the romans’ (pagare alla romana), meaning when it comes time to pay, we’ll divide the check by however many people were at the table, provided you consumed something of course.

Therefore, because each person knows going in that they’ll be on the hook for an equal share no matter what they order, everyone is thinking along these exact lines, increasing the bill further since no one wants to be short-changed. Order another beer? Dessert? Limoncello? Why not?

It’s going to be divided amongst everyone anyway.

(As a side note, interestingly enough, I’ve found two opposite meanings of ‘pagare alla romana’ among Italians (link in Italian), as some believe it means for everyone to pay exactly what he/she ordered (also ‘to go Dutch’), while others contend (link in Italian) it means the opposite, dividing up the bill amongst those who consumed as I’ve stated here. Maybe it’s a geographical north/south thing. That can usually explain a lot. I’ll have to ask around.)

UPDATE: Check it out, I’m the big winner! Thanks Michelle!

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