I change my mind, I want to gatekeep my life in Italy

i'm in the business of promoting values not vibes

The business of promoting vibes not values

Last year I worked at a wine bar and had my first, personal experience with the influence of influencers. It was a microdose, but a memorable one. It was a Sunday, a young woman, about age 22 came in and immediately started taking a few videos. I quickly introduced myself and she did the same. She explained that she has an Instagram and TikTok account both dedicated to highlighting ‘new’ food spots all over the DMV; her Instagram had over 100,000 followers, she said. This wine bar was not a new spot, but new to her, as it opened seven years ago-when she was still in high school. A friend joined her soon after, and they didn’t order any wine. I offered a non-alcoholic pear cider in a wine glass to fulfill the aesthetic for the video. They ordered oysters, a charcuterie board and a few small snacks. She didn’t film any of the staff, including me, along with the other guests that were at the bar. I also suggested she didn't. Dining out should not mean subjecting yourself to being someone else’s content. In my ten years of bartending this was never a problem before. But now, everyone films everything all the time. If I see that someone is filming me making their drink, I ask them not to post it, or film below my face. This one older gentleman said, “sweetie this is for my mom who never leaves the house but loves a good cocktail.” I was happy to be a supporting actor in that video, but this is almost never the case.

A few days later the video was posted, it came out nice, basic. It filled all the boxes of what DC self-acclaimed “foodies” wanted to see. Dim lighting, food in motion, vibes. That weekend I was looking forward to seeing what type of influence, if any, this video would have on business. It was a short turn around, but like we’ve all experienced, things can go viral in hours. Friday night, around 9pm a group of, also all 22 year-olds (I know because I carded them) came in. I offered the girls wine recommendations and suggested a bottle because our bottle prices are stupid low, but it’s meant to encourage a communal wine experience. They all ordered dirty martinis. We batch and freeze our dirty martinis not only for ease during service, but because let’s be honest, even if you shake the sh*t out of it, it’s never cold enough for people under 35. I asked how they found out about us. It’s not that they weren’t our typical clientele, because it’s DC-there are no rules-and we are located on the same street as a club, a pizzeria, and a dive bar. Regardless, they told me they found this place on TikTok. It’s funny how we use that phrase, ‘a place I found on TikTok or Instagram.’ We didn't find it. We literally did nothing, except flick our thumb. It made sense. It made sense that a 22-year old would make a fun, lively video about oysters and vibes and it would attract the attention of other 22-year olds. The girl has her target demographic down, that's for sure. This is when my concerns about this exponentially growing influencer market were confirmed: It’s become a business of protoming vibes not values.

As someone who has worked at restaurants in the Michelin-star community that boast a certain price point, dress code and overall barrier to entry, I am here to say restaurants would be lying if they said all business is good business; it’s not. It’s not about getting butts in seats anymore, it’s about attracting clientele that value what the restaurant is doing, and the purveyors they support.

The group of martini drinkers were very sweet, but not to boast, as a bartender I am good at connecting with almost everyone about one thing or another. If they didn’t want to talk about wine, we could talk about clothes or dating in DC. It’s kind of my job to find commonality with strangers. It would have been more rewarding, and lucrative in a business sense to serve a group with not only a willingness to order a bottle, but an interest in why we served these wines A lot of time, energy and money goes into curating a wine list and menu that support small producers and purveyors like we did. We need a clientele that values the substance that makes up the menu, not just the surface level vibes influenced by decor, music, lighting and cold martinis.

I’ve been monitoring and writing about the rise of content creator culture for a few years

It started stewing when I left Rome in February of 2023, now it’s boiled over. When I was in DC, I watched it from afar via fun, vivace social media content. Now that I am back in Rome, in real time & in real life and now it’s clear that my hypothesis was correct. People are becoming creators before they are becoming regular patrons. Go to a wine bar once, film the experience, share it with the world, e basta. On to the next. Let the views roll in. These ‘creators’ have no stake in the game, no responsibility to promote people and places responsibly. They see an opportunity to create content and they take it. A wine bar in Italy is low-hanging fruit, but so is a pastry case, a one euro coffee, and a “seasonal & local” farmer’s market that when you look further actually sell tropical fruits not from the region. Does the ‘food is just better here,’ notion mean anything if every country is sourcing bananas from the same monopoly? Again, my favorite quote from Jurassic Park articulates my thoughts on the subject perfectly.

So back to my interest in gatekeeping. The question shouldn’t be framed as does the general public deserve this information? But rather: will the public appreciate it? Will they respect it? Will it result in sustainable business or hit and run tourism?

Two weeks ago, I took a trip to Treviso, a city tainted with the ghosts of pandemics past

A trip I will share in detail in the weeks to come. I have to pitch some articles to publications first because I want to get paid for my hard work. I invest my own time, energy, resources and money to discover places, people and products. So I guess it’s not that I want to gatekeep, I am just tired of working for free. I also want to be sure that the stories are shared with an audience that gives a sh*t. Or at the very least, one that may result in some appropriate engagement.

On the fourth day of my trip up North, I took the regional train to Basanno del Grappa to spend the day with a fellow wine writer, now a friend, Ziza. She wrote so poetically in her newsletter about her new town, one she had a long-distance relationship with for years. I invited myself for the day to see if what she wrote was true.

We talked of motherhood, writing, careers and taking time to be regular patrons before claiming locality, which is my main source of contempt when it comes to content creation. We drank mezzoemezzo where the loggers once did, bubbles with polpette di ceci (the ultimate drinking snack) and an orange wine with lunch that would shock the natural wine disbelievers. I took no photos of our food and wine, I regret nothing. She had been in Bassano del Grappa for a year and was only now beginning to think about sharing her recommendations with publications and on her newsletter. She said she wanted time to get to know the city, and get in sync with the rhythm of this small town. Who am I to spend four measly hours in a city I’ve never been to, have a few glasses of wine, and write a listicle about Where to Eat & Drink in Bassano del Grappa? Especially when someone else designed the itinerary.

The theme of meeting fellow women writers continued. The next day I took the train to Venice, to spend the day with Gillian Longworth McGuire. It was extremely refreshing to play passenger princess for the day and go phoneless in lagoon. I am here to claim that she does in fact know best. It’s not about making recommendations, it’s about understanding people’s needs and being able to tailor your suggestions to meet people where they are and being in tune to what they will appreciate. Again, no photos were snapped during the excursion, only the aftermath. I do regret not taking a photo of the wine bottles because they were VERY tasty, especially this sparkling barbera I had. Sparkling barbera is going somewhere, I’ll find out more.

So if a wine bar is shared on social media by a creator that has no stake, education or experience in natural wine, then what is the end goal for them?

The better question is: what is the fate of the wine bar? I’m specifically thinking about Latteria di Trastevere, a wine bar that is very similar to the one I worked at in DC. At my wine bar in DC, we were one of the few establishments in the city that served cheeses from an award-winning creamery in Pennsylvania, we made our own bread in house and supported a wine list stocked with very respected wine producers. At Latteria they rotate small producers from around the country, and serve specialty cheeses from Sardinia, along with delicious bread that I’ll discuss below. If new clientele ‘find’ this place on social media, are they there for the vibes or ther values? Do they care about the wines, the products and the hard work it takes to procure them? Or are they there for the string lights and the vino themed decor, which in reality is their inventory lining the walls. Do they notice the difference in flavor from the nondescript table wine at lunch? Maybe they do and that’s why they are there. I can only hope. But then again, I spent a year serving martinis at a wine bar, so…

A spot I am glad hasn’t gone viral, but I hope they continue to receive business is a microbakery in Portuense. They have been my main bread spot now that I am back in Rome and I found them through Latteria. I feel comfortable sharing the name of the bakery here because most people who subscribe are not only on the same food journey as me and want to support places like this. I was explaining to my mom that in August almost all small business go on holiday for the entire month. Stressful for me, as someone who does not have a country or seaside house and does not have a garden. This month I will be searching for new markets while my local fruit & veggie shop is closed. The bakery also announced that they will be closed for Ferie from the 11th-28th and while I was a little bummed, it seemed like a good time to perfect my focaccia recipe at home. I stopped by the bakery on Friday to buy some flour and a giant loaf of their pane di compagna. My mom suggested I should have bought two whole loaves and froze one. I told her that this isn’t the way things work here. This isn’t toilet paper. If I selfishly stock up, I am taking away the opportunity for another regular patron to have their bread for the week. This is what I fear is happening with content creation by non-locals, not only in Rome, but many cities across Europe. For the past three summers (post pandemic) this topic has been discussed at nauseum, however it’s an issue I cannot ignore, and one I think about constantly; especially, when I create my own ‘content’.

Everytime I open my social media apps, I recite a string of questions to myself

‘Who are your videos for, what is your end goal?’ Is it to prove to strangers that you go places? We all go places, it’s called living your life. Do I have to film a grocery haul after a day at the farmer’s market to justify my experience and knowledge about seasonal foods? I should know, I literally have a master’s degree in it. Every time I plan to post, I ultimately do not, or I post a watered down version of what I originally. I remove the tags and names of places, out of fear that it will reach the wrong audience. It’s become clear that the more content that fills the space, the more empty it feels; it’s all becoming white noise to me.

The day of my flight back to Rome, I published a piece titled In the age of influencers, I’m afraid for my writing career and I here to say I disagree with almost everything I wrote. It’s just not what Italy needs, and it’s not what I need. I need to refocus my efforts on becoming a regular patron again before I share the story. I need to ask the shop owner, the producer, the winemaker, and the brewer what message they want to share with the world. I need to be cognizant of their infrastructure, their business needs and who their ideal audience is. With that said, I can’t wait to share the lessons I learned on my sustainable beer road trip up North. I asked a lot of questions about values, starting and maintaining a small business in Italy, and the brewers thoughts about local food and how craft beer plays a role in supporting a more sustainable food system. All this and more in the weeks to come, because it takes time to write and edit. Don’t forget that.

To rebuttle myself, I understand that there are probably a good amount of people that genuinely want to find natural wine bars, craft beer bars, small artisan spots and you just never where people are on their journey. The natural wine community needs more support, so if the only way to interest new audiences is by way of a cold martini, I guess that’s okay? If it weren’t for a random guy’s blog on page 2 of Google (what I call the deep dark web) listing his favorite craft beer bars in Rome, I would probably would have never visited Macché, the institutional craft beer bar in Rome, that I now consider my spot. If I hadn’t gone in there on the Sunday I did, I probably never would have met The Boyfriend, and he was the one who took me to Latteria the first night we met. So maybe I am wrong, and gatekeeping is wrong. I am open to any and all opinions, and what you all think the best way forward in is in sharing your life in Italy with others, or even not at all?

Sidenotes:

When it comes to questions about life in Italy, trust the people that are experts in research and editing, We call them writers.

*I documented the story about my experience at the wine bar in DC a year after the fact, and I attempted to recall the events as accurately as possible.

Postscript:

If you like what you read, PLEASE subscribe. Knowing that people are electively signing up to read my writing is the biggest compliment and encourages me to write more. I don’t plan on putting up a pay-wall at the moment, but anything helps as far as pledges/subscriptions go! With that, I recently reduced my annual plan price from $50 to $30. That is $2.50 a month. Even if 20 subscribers supported La Tana by subscribing for the year, that would change everything.

If you are new here, feel free to read through the archive and see if past or present stories resonate with you. If you looking for wine content: start here, in Marche. For beer content, start here, in Bavaria. And to get to know me a little bit better, this is one of my favorite pieces.

As always thank you for reading, and for drinking natural wine and craft beer,

Tana