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Mispelling recipes

French have a common habit for misspelling Italian recipes names: take any of the pizza recipes and in France you'll find many different ways of writing them.

As background information, I can say that just a few real original recipes do exist:

• Pizza Napoletana
• Pizza Margherita
• Pizza Quattro Stagioni
• Pizza Quattro Formaggi
• Pizza Capricciosa

Happily enough, in Italy there is a bill to safeguard the traditional Italian pizza, specifying permissible ingredients and methods of processing. Only pizzas which followed these guidelines could be called "traditional Italian pizzas", at least in Italy.

Italy has also requested that the European Union safeguard some traditional Italian pizzas, such as "Margherita" and "Marinara". The European Union enacted a protected designation of origin system in the 1990s.

Here's the links to the related websites: Pizzeria italiana tradizionale

But I am not writing this post to talk of ways of making pizza. My aim is to show how Frenchies misspell our recipes, by simply inventing words that do not exist!
Let's take for instance Pizza Margherita, many transcriptions can be found in the restaurant menus or even on recipes websites:

• Pizza Margarita
• Pizza Marguerite
• Pizza Marguarita
• Pizza Margharita
• Pizza Margiarita

etc, etc, etc...

This is very deceiving to me! I can't get how people starting-up a restaurant cannot have a look in an Italian dictionary to find the right word to use... Should I open a restaurant and put down a list of dishes, I would first check their correct spelling, especially for foreign recipes. How can a hungry customer looking for an italian meal trust a would-be Italian Restaurant that wrongly spells recipe's names?

The correct form is "pizza" and "pizze" in the plural. Not "pizzas".

"Napoletana" and not "Neapolitana" or "Napolitana" or "Napolitenne" or "Napolitaine".

"Salame" in the singular and "Salami" in the plural form.

And "Panini" is the plural form for "Panino": you can't ask for a panini!! But you can ask for a panino or for two panini. That's not that difficult, isn't it?

I really would appreciate Italian Restaurants in France mangling Italian recipes names. And maybe they could count on more eager customers to come and taste. In the meantime I won't hesitate to publish on my blog pics of funny Italian unbelievably misspelled menus that I will find during my stay in France. And I am sure you will enjoy...

French Wine?

A Study of wines sold in the EU, including a number from France, were found to contain a range of pesticides, with one bottle from the sample containing ten different varieties.

This is maybe why you sould taste Italian wine, which is better and healtier.

Source: 'Wine contaminated with pesticides, study claims' post on This French Life blog

Related posts: 'Fighting in the kitchen'

XC Skiing - Giorgio Di Centa vs Vincent Vittoz

Moments to remember: Giorgio Di Centa defeating Vincent Vittoz for the final 50kms XC Skiing Race in Turin 2006 is surely one of them! The Italian stayed with the lead pack for the better part of two hours, then sprinted away in the final few hundred meters to win the men's 50-kilometer race.
I watched the race with most of my French colleagues and, despite being alone, I enjoyed seeing the French champion, Vincent Vittoz, desperatedly trying to follow Giorgio!
The Italian was too strong that day, and my work colleagues had to pay the check for the Spumante! I won't really forget their typically-French pompous look vanishing during the race... Moments to remember, as I said, moments to remember!

Rome vs Paris - Comparing monuments...

Today's face-to-face: 2000 years old Roman Colosseum (originally known as the Flavian amphitheatre) against the Tour Eiffel (built for the 1889 World's Fair). Two pics, two cities, two different worlds... and it is up to you to comment which one you would visit! As a technical information, the Colosseum was built to host bloody gladiatorial combats and wild beast shows and can be visited for just 8 euro! And for the same price you can freely visit the Arch of Constantine (AD312) just on its west side and the Palatin Hill, center of the imperial power for centuries. The Eiffel Tower is 320 meters high and can be visited for 10 euro... a little expensive to visit what it is just a television antenna!

Spike of jealousy

A spike of jealousy. This is how I define the French jeering at a possible EU ban on one of its best-known culinary products, the Mozzarella. In fact, following Magnini's joke on Alain Bernard having found "new good vitamins" to win the Eindhoven European Swimming Contest, the French are trying to defeat Italy's three major point of interests: cuisine, football and tourism.
Three patriots have come to protect Italy from this attacks. Paolo De Castro, Silvio Berlusconi and Roberto Donadoni.

First, Italy's Agriculture Minister has quickly answered the world demonstrating his confidence in mozzarella. He said that only 83 farms out of 1,900 are concerned by the dyoxine, and that their products have already been taken off the market. And, I dare to add, any italian product is much less contaminated by pesticides than any French product, as you can see on this post.
And, let me say, even if Japan and South Korea have halted imports of the mozzarella amid concerns about contamination, we don't care. Mozzarella is good for us and if they don't want to eat it, they can stick to McDonald as much as they like.

Second, Berlusconi, in a urge of patriotism, is defending the Italian airline, Alitalia, from the French attack. "Why are we giving our national company to the French?" Berlusconi asked in an interview published Thursday by the Turin daily La Stampa. "It's madness!". "The Italian consortium exists," he emphasized, naming the Ligrestis, Benetton and MedioBanca as possible savers.

Third, the Italian football coach Roberto Donadoni has claimed that Italy is in good shape heading towards EURO 2008 despite the 1-0 defeat in an international friendly against Spain. French should just keep silent and calm, because the umpteenth debacle is on his way for them. Italy will undoubtedly win the 2008 European Championship.

The question is now obvious: are we becoming a real united country? I hope so. And in any case whole Italy liked the performance of Carla Bruni who impressed fashion experts with her restrained glamour Wednesday as the French presidential couple arrived in Britain for a state visit.

General Ranking

General ranking in reverse cronological order of an unending competition between two cousin countries: France and Italy. Remark: this is a historical record of the main events where both France and Italy have been put face to face and that I find interesting to show on my blog. See who’s winning!

EVENT NAME	INFO	OVERALL SCORE
Beijing 2008 Olympic Games	Italy comes 9th with 8 gold medals. France comes 10th with 7 gold medals.	Italy 6 - France 3
Eindhoven European Swimming Competition 2008	Russia comes first with 25 medals and 12 golds. Italy comes second (with 21 medals and 5 golds). France comes third (with twelve medals and 5 golds).	Italy 5 - France 3
Eindhoven European Swimming Competition 2008	Pellegrini beats Manaudou world record in 400m freestyle	Italy 4 - France 3
Eindhoven European Swimming Competition 2008	Alain Bernard beats Filippo Magnini	Italy 3 - France 3
Rugby Six Nations 2008	France easily beats Italy twice	Italy 3 – France 2
French Politics	Carla Bruni becomes French First Lady	Italy 3 – France 1
Euro 2008 Football Cup	In the B group, Italy comes first and France comes second.	Italy 2 – France 1
Euro 2008 Football Cup	France beats Italy 3-1 at home	Italy 1 – France 1
Football World Cup 2006	Italy is World Champion and France runner-up	Italy 1 – France 0

... TO BE CONTINUED!...