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Food terms in Italian
I want to know as many of the most common menu items in Italian as possible before I leave (in 10 days!) so I can avoid constantly pointing and repeating "Che cos'e?" Here's what I've got so far; please feel free to help me out by adding more.
bread - pane wine - vino chicken - pollo fish - pesce (does this also mean "seafood"?) wild boar - cinghiale (how do you pronounce this?) pepper - pepe bean - fagioli artichoke hearts - carciofo mushroom - funghi/porcini salad - insalata vegetable - verdure misto/mista - mixed (assorted) fries/chips - fritte peperoni - peppers tomato - pomodoro truffle - tartufo pumpkin - zucca appetizers - antipasti anchovies - alici (?) shrimp - gamberetti (or gamberi, prawns?) rice - riso soup - minestra or zuppa zucchini flowers - fiori di zucchine cuttlefish - seppia lamb - agnello steak - bistecca veal - vitello rabbit - coniglio or lepre meatball - polpette octopus - polpo or polipo ham - prosciutto sausage - salsicce cheese - formaggio cod - baccalà (how do you pronounce this?) mussels - cozze eggs - uova bacon - pancetta I can just wing it with pastas, desserts, fruits, and beverages. I'm also interested in local specialties by region. I'll be in Venice, Florence, Sorrento, and Rome. Here's what I know so far: Venice - seafood, cuttlefish with black ink, risotto Florence - Florentine steak, truffles (depends on the season?) Sorrento - limoncello, seafood Rome - pasta cacio e pepe Also, what food terms should I know that are more (possibly too) adventurous? Like, I know I probably don't want to order "trippa". :) Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated! Thanks so much. |
As far as pronunciation goes, Italian is one of the easiest languages in the world to master. There are really only two rules you need to know that make it slightly difficult.
The letter c can sound like the c in cat (hard c) or the ch sound, as in chip. If the letter c precedes an i or an e, it's the ch sound. Any other time it's a hard c. The letter g can sound like the g in got or the j in judge. If the letter g precedes and i or an e, it's the j sound. Any other time it's a hard g. So you should be able to figure out cinghiale - ching (well, more like cheeng actually) - gyah-lay. |
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Problem is that you will seldom find an italian menu that says there is "formaggio" in the dish you might want to order. It will instead say that it is toma, or stracchino, or bufala, or scamorza.
If you don't want ham, you need to know you don't want speck as well as proscuitto -- etc etc. And when you look at the antipasti, will you want tigelle, or acciughe, or affetato misto? There is a great small book called "Italy Dish by Dish." I use it all the time, and I've lived in Italy for years now. But when I go from region to region, I still have learn what is the name of the local fish, the local cheese, the local bread, the local pasta, and on and on. Just tonight I had decide if, for pasta, I wanted gramigna, passatelli, torteloni, tortellini or tagliatelli. Had I been in Piemonte, I wouldn't have had none of those choices -- and instead would have deciding between tajarin or agnolotti and I can't remember what else. This is a very useful book if you like to eat well: http://www.amazon.com/Italy-Dish-Com.../dp/1892145901 |
By the way, mussels are also called mitili and muscoli, depending on where you are.
I think it is great you want to learn, and you certainly don't want to end up ordering food you can't stand, but people on the internet can't help you because food names in Italy are intensely regional. And as for pronunciation, following StCirq's advice, you'll end up mispronouncing prosciutto and aglio. In a restaurant, you won't need to know how to pronounce the names of what you are ordering. You can point out the item you want on the menu. Again, I think it's great you want to learn more Italian. But no point in learning mistakes. |
You may want to familiarize yourself with gelato flavors. I think there was a Fodorite glossary here with Italian flavors and translation. But pointing to the gelato freezer case works too.
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You haven;t even started on pastas, sauces, vegetbles, etc.
And a lot of your terms are misleading. While porcini is a mushroom - it;s a specific type. And there are many other specific types. Just like prosciutto is one specific type of ham. And pesce is fish - but youw ill see that only as a category - with several different types of fish under it. So - it depends on what type of fish you want - and if you want a whole fish or a filet or a steak or ????. You really need a full-scale menu readers that describes how dishes are made - not just that it is chicken. (Is that a whole roast chicken, a chicken breast, a w ing, a leg, and how has it been cooked and what sauce is it in. I memorize the few things I know I don;t want and then bring the menu reader. I can;t say I've ever been seriously disappointed (except one place in Venice - and that was the chef not the menu - fish isn;t supposed to be crispy all the way through) - and have had some very nice things I wouldn;t have ordered. |
A note about some fish and beef dishes. These are often priced by weight, which can lead to a nasty surprise bill after you've enjoyed that large, whole fish you thought was only 10 euros....but find out it was 10 euro per 100g. (1/4 lb), or that huge Florentine steak...
Same goes for some mixed antipasti. Caveat emptor. |
Oh please, who doesn't know how to pronounce prosciutto? And aglio doesn't even follow the rule - there's an l between the g and the i.
But carry on trying to be a superior, condescending poster. Everyone's got your number. |
We've found this little PDF very useful when translating all manner of recipes, articles on cuisine and, most recently, an entire cookbook...
http://www.destinazioneusa.com/files...i%20cucina.pdf Otherwise, if prepared to invest the tiniest amount, try this shirt-pocket sized publication.... http://www.amazon.com/Gastronomic-Di.../dp/0948807601 And, for some background reading on the food and wine specialities in our part of the country, you may enjoy... http://www.bb-napoli.com/english/specialities-guide.pdf .... if only for the sumptuous photos! Peter |
It's generally a good idea to order regional specialties. If you find enough of them that sound appealing in advance, you can avoid asking some poor server to explain every dish on the menu.
Here are two useful lists for Rome: http://www.liveinrome.com/cuisine.htm http://www.rome.info/food/ You can start on this page for Venetian dishes: http://www.venicebanana.com/traditio...n_cooking.html And on this page for Florence: http://www.cookaround.com/cook/italia/toscana/ There's information about food in Campania in these two places: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campania#Cuisine http://www.charmingitaly.com/top-10-...s-of-campania/ |
Thanks to everyone for the helpful replies. I appreciate it!
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Here's a little hint:
When you see an asterisk next to a menu item (*) the item has been previously frozen. You may see this next to fish and seafood, as well as porcini and other vegetables out of season. Florentine steak is known as bistecca and it is served very rare. If you cannot eat it this way, do not order it, as overcooking will result in shoe leather and many places refuse serve it any way other than the way it is intended to be eaten. The menu designation "Chianina" means that the steak is from the most highly prized breed, from the Chiana Valley of Tuscany. |
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Some fish and beef will be priced by weight so be careful ordering or you might pay a lot more than you intended.
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In Italian - pronounce like:
Ga = ga ge = jeh gi = jee go = go gu = goo gue = gway gui = gwee (lin gwee ni) ghe = geh ghi = ghee - this is why Ghiradelli's is Gear uh del lee, not Jeer uh del lee. ca = ka ce = cheh ci = chee co = ko cu = koo che = keh chi = key -- la machina = la mah kee nah gl[vowel] = pronounced like "ll" in Spanish so tagliatelle = ta lee a tell uh gn[vowel] = pronounced like n with tilde in Spanish so Bologna = bo lo nyuh sce = sheh sci = she sche = skeh schi = skee like LoSchiavo = low skee ah vo Finally, anything mechanical is "la machina." ;-) |
But the double-l in Spanish is not pronounced like the "gl" in tagliatelle!
relleno=re-ye-no |
But since I do not speak much Italian, perhaps tagliatelle does have the "y" sound! I need to know so I can order next time I am in the north!
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One more thing about pronounciation: most Italian words carry the stress on the last syllable but one. If the stress lies on the last syllable, its vowel is marked by a grave accent (à, è, ò, or ù). There are also words stressed on the third last syllable, but apart from the verbs' third person plural (PORtano etc.), there is no rule I know to idetify these words (MACchina, e.g.).
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Thanks so much for the info about pronunciation, as well as the other suggestions. You guys are awesome.
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Hey erries,
May I suggest that one of the more interesting adventures is to just point at something that looks good. After you've tried it you can write down its name. :) >I can just wing it with pastas,...< You are not concerned that the other diners will laugh at you for ordering gemelli instead of fusilli? :) Enjoy your visit. ((I)) What about wines? |
Amazing how your post on Slowtrav.com and then this differ.
Be adventuresome, wait staff will help, learn those food items that you KNOW you will hate (tripe). Italians just really appreciate that you are trying to speak and order in their language.... even if you mess up a word, it is far better that you are not one of those people who don't try and/or those that complain. A great example. We were at Lamole (awesome restaurant in Tuscany) sitting next to a middle age man and his older mother. She ordered rabbit, did not take a bite and then complained to 2 waiters non stop about how bad the rabbit was. The amazing wait staff smiled, bought the food for her and did everything in their power to be gracious. (Personally I wanted to slap her because she was so rude). |
The Marling Menu-Master for Italy is very good, if you can find a copy.
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eksrunchy:
tah-lya-tell-ee aglio= ahyl-oh with an "a" sound like in "ahhh" |
Thanks, StCirq: I knew that you would know the correct pronunciation! So it sounds as if I was correct in my first post about this--that it is not the same as the double-l in Spanish.
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St Cirq
There is no English equivalent to the Italian "gli", and your renderings of the sound is not correct. Aglio is not correct and I have no idea what "tah-lya-tell-ee" is. Do you mean "tagliatelle"? There is no "ee" sound at the end and correctly pronouncing "gli" in Italian includes at least a brief sounding of the "i". To answer your post above, It was precisely my point that your "rules" for pronouncing the Gs in Italian doesn't cover some of the most commonly used g's in the language, a lot of which are frequently found on menus. I don't know if you listened closely the last time you were in Italy (when was that?), but plenty of non-Italian speakers don't know how to pronounce proscuitto. I overhear "praZHOOtoh" all the time. It's a shame that you do this and then call other people names when they make the effort to steer people to better sources of information. But I don't imagine at this point there is any stopping it. eks, You can go all over the net these days and find websites that include an option to hear the pronounciation of a word from a native Italian speaker. http://en.bab.la/dictionary/italian-english/gli http://en.bab.la/dictionary/italian-english/aglio http://en.bab.la/dictionary/italian-english/tagliatelle |
But don't thank me, eks! Seriously! (But do listen to the correct pronunciations.)
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Will do. That is very helpful!
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Don't you love it when you see English translations next to the local language on a menu in Europe, where it looks like they used a translation program?
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Hi, erries and welcome. There are other, more simple ways to order dinner in Italy as well. My dear husband and I often told the waiter what we like and let him arrange our dinner. This worked best when waiter spoke some English ( ;;) ), but we were never disappointed. We often ordered the special on the outside chalk board and were always happy.
Friends of ours went to a place where no one spoke any English and the waiter made animal noises to describe the dish and other diners brought their dishes over and pointed to the menu description. When their meals were served, everyone stood and applauded! The best phrase to learn is: vino rosso de la casa.... Seriously, relax and have a great time. Please write about your trip and pass along helpful hints for others. Oh, Keith, imagine an English trans in a Chinese resto in Venice... |
ellenem, thanks for that tip. I didn't realize it was there, with pronunciations :-)
http://www.fodors.com/language/italian/dining-out/ |
Thanks, ellenem (and starrs). That's a very helpful link!
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> Amazing how your post on Slowtrav.com and then this differ. <
What? |
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