Monday, September 10, 2012

Random dining, anyone?

I am always amazed at the lack of spelling abilities in alleged Italian restaurants abroad (this is by far not a US-only phenomenon). I am not saying you should speak Italian fluently if you open an Italian restaurant. But I would expect you would make the effort of picking up that wonderful linguistic tool called "dictionary" and look up the 20 Italian words that will come up in your menu. I know I would do that, if I tried to open my taco shack back in Europe.

Yet, how many times have I read "tagliatelli"? How many times have I read "pene arabiata" (so you know, people, pene is penis in Italian. You may still like it, but it shouldn't be on a menu, right? Unless you are into this thing here on the right).

But "Italian" family dining chain Carabba's is bringing its lack of understanding of the Italian language to laugh-inducing levels. They are very happy to introduce their "cucina casuale".


The fools at Carabba's think that "cucina casuale" means "casual dining" in Italian. Alas, it doesn't: it means "random dining", as in "not very well thought dining", as in "I don't know what the F I am putting together dining". Sounds appealing? Not so much.

So here is my offer to all Italian restaurants (and self proclaimed Italian cooking gurus) out there: I offer you my services to help you spell your menu correctly, so that you avoid the ridiculousness of launching a multi million dollar campaigns in which you are basically saying that you cook like shit (I am not saying Carabba's cooks like shit: I am saying they claim they do, at least in Italian).

I promise, I won't charge much. Even you Carabba's. Get in contact with me. 

4 comments:

Trobairitz said...

Now that is just funny stuff right there. You had me laughing while reading it, but it is so sad they can't do their research.

A Tuscan foodie in America said...

It is beyond me. I mean, especially in the case of Carabba's all they had to do was to check ONE word!

Panama said...

Just writing? Americans are not very good at pronouncing Italian words. I'm not even Italian, nor am I American, but I at I least make an effort to do the research. You should see how they look at me all crazy when I go into this "Italian" deli nearby and order things with an Italian pronunciation. I'm embarrassed for them! Good blog by the way.

A Tuscan foodie in America said...

Thank you Panama, and welcome. You know, it happens to me too when I pronounce things correctly and they look at me like if I couldn't speak properly.

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