Buenos Aires Foods Of Italian Origin

[nativexpat]

deleted - wrong thread B)

 

[Girino]

I'll bet Serafina writes "São Paulo" as "Sao Paulo" and doesn't think twice about it.

1) the sound is the same
2) you can't get it confused with anything else


Anyway, nlaruccia wrote "cannoli" and I can't see why your two word comment

Mmmmmmmmmmmm canoli!

already lost a "n". The sound changes a lot!

And the example I stated about misspelled names was referred to Argentinians. To be honest, farinata is typical of the Genoa area only, it is not widespread. You want to make it your hallmark dish, fine, at least if you want to sell it as an Italian delicacy spell its name correctly!

I bet you'd be pissed off if you kept reading "mother thong" instead of "mother tongue".


EDIT: I just looked at the menu of Trattoria Olivetti and it is awful, I had to read the Spanish translation to understand what they wanted to write in Italian!
There is no single dish listed there has no mistake in their Italian version. No one! C'mon, and you'd sell this as a typical Italian restaurant?!

 

[Ries]

The best way to think about "Italian" food in Argentina is to compare it to Italian Cowboy movies.
Some are great, some are terrible, but they bear only the most superficial resemblance to the original item.

To appreciate Italian Cowboy movies, just like Argentine Italian food, you must first dismiss any interest in "authenticity".
You have to appreciate them for what they are, not what they are not.
I love some Mario Girotti films (Terence Hill) such as the Trinity series, while others, frankly, stink.

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

But why is that? A tradition is treasured and followed by any emigrants arriving to Terra Nova. When the Argentina has so many Italian descents, why not to honour and preserve its heritage ? I 'been told that one can go to a remote and runned down city as in Asunción Paraguay, and still find Japanese food made there as if they were cooked fresh in Tokyo. Knowing the Italians they do value their tradition very much, just look at the little Italy's Ristorante in N.Y.C. they still to this date, cooking those fabulous genuine looking and tasting Cusina Italiana...I love the Fettuccine Alfredo too..

 

[nlaruccia]

Why is it so hard to put doubles in the right spot?
I am not complaining about using singular and plural nouns since that's out of reach for most foreigners (salami > salame ) or about male/female (linguini > linguine, fettuccini > fettuccine) or about forgetting accents or apostrophes (faina > fainá)

Even Argentinians make that mistake! It is really awful to travel the world and see so many "Italian" places who cannot even spell correctly their name, their main courses or their menu. I even found mistake on bathroom signs!

This is a faina:

This a fainá (= farinata in dialect):

I understand, but when Italian names are brought over to Argentina or the U.S. the spelling is changed to match they phonetics of the language. In order for Argentines to pronounce my cat's name correctly, I changed the spelling of his name from "Kitty" to "Kidi". From roast beef to ros bif. From mozzarella to muzarela. I even pronounce my own Italian last name differently or rather incorrectly, otherwise the Argentines won't understand.

 

[Hybrid Ambassador]

Pronounce your own family name differently just to apeace the locals? For me, not a chance, if I was given the family name as "Suzuki" won't be changing to Sudzuki so to pronounce it more to local flavour. Perhaps just me thinking but.....

 

[Ries]

But why is that? A tradition is treasured and followed by any emigrants arriving to Terra Nova. When the Argentina has so many Italian descents, why not to honour and preserve its heritage ? I 'been told that one can go to a remote and runned down city as in Asunción Paraguay, and still find Japanese food made there as if they were cooked fresh in Tokyo. Knowing the Italians they do value their tradition very much, just look at the little Italy's Ristorante in N.Y.C. they still to this date, cooking those fabulous genuine looking and tasting Cusina Italiana...I love the Fettuccine Alfredo too..

Actually, what happens is traditions are mis-remembered, and transformed, by emmigrants.
This happens all over the world.
Italian food in New Jersey is not in the least authentic.
Japanese food in Peru is a whole new cuisine. (If they make sushi with cream cheese in Tokyo, then what you have been told is true- but in reality, its just another fantasy).
Mexican food in the USA bears only the most tangential relationship to the food in Mexico.

When the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" came out, it played in Greece. Real Greeks thought the americans were intentionally making fun of them, as all of the "greek" traditions and foods were so obviously NOT greek.

People THINK they are being traditional, but they almost never are.

And Argentina is a melting pot- the italian, spanish, belgian, french, lebanese, german, english, and eastern european jews all mixed and married and created a new thing.
I have many friends with Italian names, but whose culture includes influences from all over.

 

[nlaruccia]

Pronounce your own family name differently just to apeace the locals? For me, not a chance, if I was given the family name as "Suzuki" won't be changing to Sudzuki so to pronounce it more to local flavour. Perhaps just me thinking but.....

When asked by someone behind a desk for your last name, you get tired of spelling it two or three times in a row. So you pronounce it in a phonetic manner so they can understand to make things run faster and smoother. No big deal.

 

[cbonanni]

As I tell my wife , when the immigrants were coming from Italy , the ships with the pasta makers and Ice cream makers arrived safely. However the ship with the bread makers sank.

Italian food here is just another food made to the taste of Argentines.

 

[Rich One]

Most immigrants came from Sicily and Calabria Countryside and the deep South importing peasant Italain cucina Meridionale from the late XIX century!!! No risoto milanese!

Cannoli are hard to find in Florence, one must ask for a regional specialty Sicilian resto--!!