Our first visit to Venice we stopped for a late lunch at a small restaurant that did not have an English language menu. Our son and I ordered pizzas. Wife wanted some sort of a pasta dish. There was one dish that appealed to her, but there was one ingredient listed that I couldn't find a translation for--I had left the book with the more extensive menu translations in our hotel room.

The waiter spoke about as much English as we did Italian--hello, goodbye, bathroom, and such. Well, through sign language and using what we all knew in Italian, German, French, and English, we came to the conclusion that the unknown substance was some sort of a sea vegetable?!?!?! What the heck, she ordered it.

Turns out the sea vegetable was some sort of a local clam, and she does love clams! Hoo-rah!

I order and Osso Bucco of the menu in a swank Prague restaurant expecting the veal shank Italian version. What I got was the Russian version which was stewed sturgeon fish, lol

Aloha!

Reverse situation.
1)Spanish tourists in the USA with me MUCHOS years ago, ordered Root Beer on a steaming muggy day( while I had gone to the bathroom).

When it came, (they thought it looked like Guiness) they took a big slurp and all quickly put down their glasses, mouths screwed around and asked," what the h*** is this stuff? Is this real American beer?"!!

2)My teenage French niece and an exchange student came with me to visit a friend in the hospital. The girls went to the cafeteria while I was chatting. They were starving.

When I came back to get them, they were still laughing.

Their request

"A jam and cheese sandwich , please".

Waitress: "JAM and cheese?".

Niece: "Yes, JAM and cheese".

W: "You really want JAM and cheese?".

N: (now quite purturbed) "Is it so difficult? Yes, just jam and cheese".

W: "OK.. What kind of jam?".

N: "Just normal York jam.

W: "YORK jam?".

N: "Yes, just NORMAL YORK jam".

W: "I'm sorry, but we don't have YORK jam. Any other kind of jam?".

N: " (urggggggg!!!) OK. Just normal jam!"

W: "OK".

So, my niece was obediently served a jam and cheese sandwich. When she got it and realized what she had put this waitress through she cracked up, and a half hour later when they were telling the story on the way home over and over again and describing the confused, incredulous expression on the girl's face, which now made sense, I could hardly drive!

Once in Italy. my bus due in five minutes, so I stepped into a coffee bar an ordered a caffe latte. The barrista said something and I just nodded, my eyes glued to the bus stop. I heard the thud as my beverage was placed before me and turned to discover my latte caffe -- warm milk with a touch of coffee. It was actually pretty good.

Early in our travels we were in a restaurant in Calais. I didn't recognize anything on the menu, but there was something called 'langue de boeuf' (I think I have that right). The only word I recognized was the boeuf, and thought how bad can that be. It was beef tongue, served with the blood drowning the chips that came with it - and it looked exactly as if they'd just cut the thing out of some poor cow they had tied up at the back of the kitchen. Couldn't eat for days.

Wow...some of these are making me want to gag!

I'm such a picky eater (sad but true) and when we travel overseas we menu shop until we find a restaurant with a menu item that we know so we don't end up with any surprises. Therefore, my worst food experience is tame compared to everyone else's, but I'll go ahead and mention it anyways. DH and I were at the Tokyo train station waiting for our train to Kyoto and we stopped in a Mr. Donut to grab some quick breakfast snacks for the journey. I pick up what looks like a cream-filled donut that has been rolled in some kind of crunchy breadcrumbs and then fried. It looked delicious and I was on vacation so I picked it up. We were on the train and I pull out my donut and take a big bite only to find out that it was stuffed with some kind of spiced meat in a very thick curry paste. Now, I like curry but this wasn't very tasty, and not a very pleasant surprise when your prepared for a nice sweet treat!

Tracy

Not gag-making at all, just embarassing.

In Switzerland, I thought I had cracked the multi-language menu code and was on safe ground with my choice...it sure sounded like 'chicken' to my ear.

So, I confidently ordered for my (trusting) friend and myself.

However, when the 'schinkenspeck' (there doesn't that sound chickeny?) came, it was glaringly apparent, it was cured pork...and my pal was Jewish!

This isn't a mistake, but it was really funny.

In Norway, we all ordered the daily special (reindeer) one time, and it came with a side dish even our Norwegian friend could not identify!

Basically, it was like a sponge had been run through a colander. Imagine spongy morsels about the size and shape of crunchy Cheetos (not the puffy baked ones). They were pale in color and spongy in texture, but not chewy, and they did not have a whole lot of flavor.

The reindeer was good, though!

>>>Neither of spoke any Italian but we figured pepperocini must be the Italian spelling for pepperoni. Wrong! We got a pizza with about 6 big yellow banana peppers on it!<<<

We had exactly the reverse experience in Tucson, Arizona. At Pizza Hut, I ordered pepperoni pizza and expected a pizza covered with spicy chiles. Instead, I got a pizza with a tasteless sausage. Huge disappointment for me and my kids!

BTW, same with chorizo in the US. In Europe, chorizo is a real sausage, very spicy. In the US, you get a dish where the chorizo is not identifiable.

Okay, lesson learned. Next time, I order Rocky Mountain oysters.

<i>In the US, you get a dish where the chorizo is not identifiable</i>

That would be true of any Mexican or Central American chorizo. That one can't be blamed on an adaptation to US palates.

Traveller1959,
Chorizo in the US is quite varied and it depends on what part of the country you are in. In Arizona and Southern California, for example, the chorizo is closer to the chorizo of the nearby parts of Mexico. Good quality chorizo should still be identifiable, however the spices used to flavor it are different from chorizo in Spain. Also, in many of the larger cities such as Chicago, Washington DC or NY you can get Spanish style chorizo very easily.

I am originally from Spain and prefer the seasoning of Spanish style (and also it seems to have a lower fat content). I have had no trouble finding it in my local grocery store.

I will be going to Paris later this year and am frantically studying food terms so I will know what I'm ordering! ;-)

Knowing no Japanese at all in Kamogawa, we ended up ordering chocolate eel for dessert...blahhhh ...We couldnt eat sashimi for some time after that

So I'm in Paris , nice bistro. I am fluent in franch, and when I travel to france operate in 'local' mode. So I order an appetizer and he comes back to say it is not available. He suggest another appetizer. I don't know what it is, but bit embarassed to ask, so I say yes. He confirms I want it, I say yes. I figure can't go wrong with food in Paris. The dish arrives and it is a gelatinous blob with strange flavour and texture. Of course, I have to finish it. To this day, I do not know what it was, but it was yuck.

I will now be buying a menu translation book (or pocket card of some kind) for my trip to Italy at the end of the month--never thought I wouldn't be able to "figure" things out until reading these postings! If anyone has any suggestions for some small lightweight guide--much appreciated! :-)

I was in the Greek Islands (Crete) and after a long day of walking was starving. I sat down at a nice little street cafe and was thrilled when the waiter spoke english. I asked him what one item was and he gave me a long explanation, I asked for a description of a 2nd item and he again complied. When I asked for a third item he threw his hands in the air yelling at me that it "is greek" and mumbled a bunch of things as he stormed away. I was trying not to laugh until I realized I wasn't sure if he was returning or not. He eventually did return with my drink in hand. I said I would have a number 1 please. I have no idea what type of "stew" this was but I ate it all and didn't ask anymore questions--I lucked out in that it wasn't half bad!...and he didn't yell at me anymore :-)

I did not read this first time around and am amazed how so many dislike certain foods these days. My mom cooked tripe, smelts, sardines, artichokes eggplants, squid, octopus and so much more. I guess in my youth, I thought everyone ate like that :) Now as an adult, I run into more people who do not eat those things.

At a Chinese restaurant in exotic Rockville,MD the menu had a section in Chinese characters. I pointed to one item and asked the waiter what it was - he answered "red duck." Well, I like duck so I ordered it. It turned out to be clotted duck's blood.

In Segovia, Spain I ordered two items from the chalkboard without a clue as to what they were. I was served a plate of squid in ink and sausage. Not bad actually.

In the mid 1990's we visited the Czech Republic, Poland, Hunagry, and Austria. Whatever we ordered in Poland and Czech Republic we got the other. At that time, all the food looked the same and tasted the so it did not matter much.

I ordered "parmentier de canard" at le Grand Café Capucines (near Opera Garnier) but they brought me dry boring chicken-- twice! The first time it was sent back; by the time the waiter came back <i>again</i> with the wrong dish, I was running so late for the theater (and this was supposed to be one of their pre-theater special menus) that I didn't have time to argue or send it back again. I don't believe it was a miscommunication-- I bet they were just running low on the more interesting specials and decided to dump something else on me thinking a tourist wouldn't know the difference between chicken and duck.

I actually wouldn't have minded as much if they had substituted some weird mystery food instead, even Michel_Paris's gelatinous blob I would have been willing to at least try once, but get plain dry boring chicken when I had ordered something I couldn't get at home really made me mad.