Having recently visited Italy again for the first time since 2019 (from April 19th-May 4th), I decided to engage in that most clichéd of tourist activities: I took a cooking class. My chef, Giuseppe, was a Lucca native who does them out of his house for tourists. On this particular Saturday, his class was a small one, only five tourists: me, a charming elderly couple from Atlanta, and their equally charming daughter and son-in-law.
Before the class started, Giuseppe said, “What I have to do first is give you a very fast course in food pronunciation.”
I raised my hand, looked him in the eye, and said, “Brew-SKET-ah, Pro-SHOOT-toe, and Cah-pee-COE-la.” He stopped, looked me in the eye, and I honestly thought he was going to start weeping. “Yess!!” he screamed, raising his hands with delight.
respectful American audience in Lucca
It may seem silly to Americans but Italians do take foodstuffs — and cooking — seriously. And it really does hurt their pride when they hear tourists (let’s face it, largely American ones) who can’t be bothered to pronounce Italian food names correctly. At best, this is laziness; at worst, sheer disrespect. It’s not nice to casually dump on someone else’s culture.
Below are two links. The first is for “Bensonhurst Spelling Bee,” a 2013 short comedy video in which real-life celebrity couple Kelly Ripa (who publicly brags about being “3/4ths Italian”) and husband Mark Consuelos (Hispanic, Mexican) allowed their then young-son to humiliate himself, and his Italian heritage, in a sketch on this very subject. The sketch went viral.
Note the cruel comments by viewers, repeating clichéd phrases as if on cue: “I’m Italian and this is hilarious…” “I’m Italian and this is so accurate…” “I’m Italian and I’m not offended…” “It’s just a joke..” “We Italians have a sense of humor.” And so on and so forth.
However: Instead of a being dressed like a cartoonish media version of an Italian American male — bandana, track suit, gold chain, etc. — imagine if the young man “honored” the Hispanic half of his heritage. Keep the bandana but add raggedy jeans, tattoos, a black moustache, and have him mispronounce Spanish foods in a Frito Bandito accent.
Would people still be amused? I think we all know the answer. It’s called a “double standard.” It’s also called a lack of respect.
The second link corrects the first — it’s a primer on how to correctly say Italian food names. Listen and enjoy.
So the next time a wait person asks you to order something off of an American menu, tell them you would like a “hamboigee with French flies.” I’m sure they wouldn’t find it amusing. They’d probably think you’re daft.
Lesson learned! We can only hope. -BDC
The Bensonhurst Spelling Bee with Kelly Ripa – Search (bing.com)
15 Commonly Mispronounced Italian Food Words – Daily Italian Words
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