La Merenda

In Latin merum means pure, unadulterated. The word was often used in connection with wine. The Italian word mero stands for wine which has not been tampered with. But as such wine is bound to go to one’s head if not accompanied by something to eat, it is ritually accompanied by a merenda. La merenda cannot be confused with the modern snack. The snack is snatched, la merenda is shared. The word implies conviviality and if anything is to be seized it is time by the forelock, an event insinuated between laying off work and the return to the polished anonymity of that little prison of perfection which is every Italian’s home.