My mrs is italian, and the first time she took me to meet her parents her mother snapped something I didnt understand, but took to be uncomplimentary. Turned out she'd said "he's nice, but too skinny", which is true (5'9" and back then a little under 8 stone.) To her eternal credit, the mother in law took it on herself to feed me up, I put on 2 stone in 2 years and genuinely enjoyed the food which was invariably shoved in front of me the moment I walked in their door. Stabilised now at 10 and a half stone, which feels about right. God bless italian cooking.