Influenza & "mangiare in bianco"

Biella has been struck down with a case of the flu since before Christmas. I don't know if it's the 'flu flu' or if everyone here has had really bad colds, but it seems to have knocked everyone we know for 6. Our friends Lilli and Carmello (who everyone in our family now calls 'Caramello') had kids sick in bed and they were sick themselves for the entire school holidays, 2 weeks of fever, and then the rest. Sounds nightmareishingly bad if you ask me.

I have never known about the curative effects of white food, but here in Biella, after this nasty period of sickness, it's alive and well. In Bianco is how they cook for people who are unwell, recovering from illness, feeling slightly off color, and it also serves well for fussy kids who don't like to try new food. We have encountered the in bianco rituals quite a bit over these last 2 months. Basically, it means you can have food but make sure it's white, and perhaps dressed with just a little oil or butter (which incidentally is completely white over here and tastes amazing). White bread? Tick. Crackers? Tick because they are sort of white on the inside. Pasta? Tick tick - major staple turns food of salvation.  White food in Italy is like our chicken soup. Poor Sam also has the white food quite a bit at kinder because he doesn't eat lactose, some days when we ask him what he has had for lunch, the exasperated and uninspired reply 'they gave me pasta with OIYAL...again!!!"

Another common fear related with the influenza is taking the cold. People are at most risk when going from indoors to outdoors with insufficient clothing (never mind the distance you have to travel, if you're going from the gym to the car, you need a jacket, you need to dry your hair with a hairdryer, and make sure for goodness sake that you have a scarf around that neck, unless you want to get a terrible influenza)...writing this is probably going to make me a prime candidate in the karma stakes for pneumonia I'm sure, but these cultural idiosyncracies are definitely worth sharing.

On the illness note, we have gotten through 2/3 of the European Winter well so far. Sam has had some nasty coughs, Charlie has a little splutter, but he hasn't had a fever, but now unfortunately we have the man of the house with a nasty cough, hoping eucalyptus oil will settle that one before it turns into influenza, or worse....man flu!