food for thought

when i was in the states i would often get the ''what's does this mean?'' question for pretty much any word that is in italian. i remember one time in particular when a new fab restaurant was opening on fairmount, ''osteria'' got asked that very question. it urked me that i was 1. stumped at an italian word and 2. stumped that i didnt know the answer to a restaurant question (god forbid!). and now, after a few months of slowly eating away at my italian and food snobbery pride, i have an answer!

did you know that 'back in the day' the town inn that offered food was called the osteria? [stress on the IA pizzle...i know how that plagued you.] it was never anything special...think dirty English Inn where they spit to clean out your mug. and the food was very basic and cheap - poor man's food. they were called osterias because the owner or 'host' was called an oste (from the latin hospite of course..)

Now the trattoria is one step up from an osteria. (italians add 'ia' to almost any shop. a latteria = a milk shop, a tabacherria = cigarette shop) you could find better quality food, and hopefully no cockroaches in your bed. the owner or host of a trattoria? a trattore (a cognate of traiteur in French, essentially meaning take-out. you could take your midprice meal home too!)

Finalmente, il ristorante. ristorare ''to restore'' is the original derivitive of the word, and it also comes from those clever french, who opened the first restaurant in 1765. It served hearty soups in which to restore your body...okay i think you get it.

Actually, now that i have all this information, it's kind of funny that the lavish italian antipasto bar on fairmount charges $18 for a pizza, and is named (essentially) the mcdonald's of italian restaurants..