On Sep 11, 2009, at 9:13 AM, Thomas Dalton wrote:
We're not talking about culture, we are talking about lunch. They are human beings, the same as we are, they have the same needs when it comes to food.
This, in fact, is one of the great fallacies of international organizations. Failure to notice and work within the context of cultural norms condemns an organization very quickly. In Italy, I was far more likely to take business partners to long elaborate meals than I would be in California. Please, can we at least acknowledge that it's not as simplistic as you present it here?
Philippe