Pasta and wine are the keys to wellness, according to Italian grandmothers on TikTok.
“What’s the secret to keeping that youthful spirit?” the TikToker womenonthestreet asks Connie, a 96-year-old New Yorker who immigrated from Calabria, Italy, at age three.
Connie, wrapped in a bright red peacoat and statement pearls, doesn’t hesitate: “Pasta, vino, caffeine.”
This video and countless others featuring Italian women in their 70s, 80s, or, like Connie, late 90s continue to go viral on both TikTok and YouTube. On Instagram, @pastagrannies features soothing videos of women rolling out ravioli, collecting peppers from the garden, and making noodles from memory long after their sight is gone. One thing is certain: These bonnes vivantes are thriving well into the so-called blue zone years — and they’re not afraid of carbs.
Here’s what this unique approach to wellness entails and what lessons you can take away from the internet’s favorite pasta grannies.
The Keys to the ‘Pasta Granny’ Lifestyle
Step one: Stop and smell the — erhm — ragù. One of the most vital elements of the pasta granny lifestyle is emphasizing the community and pleasure of cooking mindfully.
“We can learn quite a lot from Italian elders, simply by watching them on TikTok,” says Constance Weissmuller, M.S., R.D.N., a registered dietitian in Denver. “Italians have a slower pace of life that is more community-oriented. Their recipes use simple and unprocessed ingredients. What we’re seeing is cooking with great care and joy.”
Carroll Lee, a certified health counselor and the founder and CEO of Equinox Circle partner Provenance, agrees. “They grew up in an era with less ultra-processed food and less technology than we have today,” she says. “Preparing delicious meals by hand with real, whole foods is something that many of us have not learned or have found too inconvenient to practice regularly. The pasta grannies and Italian elders are modeling a way of living that celebrates tradition, culture, and joy in food.”
On the same token, the pasta granny lifestyle is centered on connecting with others. “Community is an important facet of Italian life, whereas wellness can often feel quite isolating in America,” says Weissmuller. “So-called ‘wellness journeys’ in America tend to be quite isolating, involving making separate meals with carbohydrates removed or absences from social gatherings that involve food or alcohol.”
The internet’s collective adoration of the TikTok pasta grannies likely reflects the desire to stop embarking on isolating wellness journeys, says Weissmuller. “I think we are seeing the joy on these grandmothers' faces and their long lives well-lived, and we want that, too — or at least we want to be a part of it,” she explains.
RELATED: Why We Need Community
What You Can Learn from ‘Pasta Grannies’
Both Lee and Weissmuller agree that there’s room for carbs and red wine in a balanced diet. “Carbohydrates have always been an essential part of evidence-based nutrition recommendations,” says Weissmuller. “However, with the prevalence of restrictive weight loss diets or ‘wellness’ being misconstrued as ‘carb-free,’ I think we have all collectively gotten a bit confused. Carbohydrates are an essential part of each meal. Our brain needs the equivalent of about three cups of pasta every day just to function, so if you want to have pasta daily, go for it!”
Red wine also has a regular place on dining tables across Italy, so that’s saying something. “I hesitate to recommend drinking wine as a wellness trend, as everyone has a different relationship to alcohol, and we do know that there are negative health consequences associated with alcohol consumption,” says Weissmuller. “However, I do think that if an individual has a healthy relationship to alcohol, it can be integrated into an overall healthy lifestyle.”
But pasta grannies can teach you lessons that go beyond what to include on your plate. For one, the content highlights the value of being present. “We know that eating while staring at screens can lead to ignoring our bodies’ hunger cues and that eating while stressed can result in over- or under-eating,” Lee notes. “The pasta granny mentality teaches us that when we slow down to cook and eat with intention, we’ll experience more joy and pleasure in our meals. ”
“We look at Italian elders, and we see they have wellness figured out with far less.
The cutesy videos also promote the idea that, when it comes to wellness, less is more. “I think we have taken ‘wellness’ too far in America, in a way that actually makes us quite unwell,” says Weissmuller, a professional practitioner of intuitive eating. “We believe wellness requires more — more supplements sold to us on social media, more strict rules around food and movement, and more gadgets. We look at Italian elders, and we see they have wellness figured out with far less.” After all, Sardinia has almost 10 times more centenarians per capita than the U.S.
This simplicity may feel particularly appealing in America, where nutritional advice often feels convoluted or conflicting, says Lee. “The dietary advice in the U.S. has been consistently inconsistent, with regular debate between groups who believe that there is one best way to eat — think of current trends including the keto diet and even a carnivore diet,” she says. “The pasta grannies represent a traditional way of eating, and I believe that many of us crave a return to balance instead of embracing the extremes.”
Essentially, “some of us are realizing, after potentially decades of dieting, that there’s more to food than just fuel,” says Weissmuller. “There’s community, joy, tradition, and solid nutrition. Also, who doesn’t want to be fed a delicious meal made by a cute old lady?!”
Through Equinox Circle, members can harness the healing power of food with $100 off your first four Provenance orders of $150 or more, priority delivery on all orders, and 10% off products and cleanse programs in the Wellness Shop.