Did you know this was a Southern Italian specialty? Neither did I, until last night, when we got to taste it at a local osteria... but not before this conversation with a very smiley waiter:
Waiter: Da bere...? (what would you like to drink?)
Anne: Vino bianco. (white wine)
Waiter: Abbiamo un vino di casa con pesche. (we have a house wine with fish)
Anne: ?!?!? Con pesche??????
Waiter (nonchalantly): Si, si!
Anne (to the the rest of the table): Guys, what do you think? Have you ever heard of this? (to the waiter, with much hesitation) Ok...proviamo... (ok, we'll try...)
Waiter scampers off, grinning.
Anne (to the rest of the table): This must be a joke. Look at him laughing at us.
Waiter comes back with pitcher of wine.
He pours me a little and tells me to try it. It tastes...surprisingly sweet and not fishy at all. It's actually really tasty! I sneak a peek inside the pitcher. And I realize my elementary mistake:
Pesce (pronounced peh-sheh) = fish
Pesche (pronounced pehs-skeh) = peaches
Deep down, I know the difference, but along with my "fish" wine I swallow a little of my pride. I still have a lot to learn in this country, none of it via language textbooks.
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:D don't worry we learn from our mistakes ;-)
ReplyDeleteThe waiter likely assumed from your hesitation and consultation that you are a serious oenophile, and you were just aghast at the flagrant disregard for centuries of proper viticulture with this introduction of the peach.
ReplyDeleteWill you be ordering the wine again? :)
@emie: very true. merci cousine et WELCOME HOME!!! ;)
ReplyDelete@Jen: BA-hahahahah! i'm sure that's exactly what my face was conveying at the time. ;) and yes, i will be ordering it again; i guess it's the italian version of sangria--is super refreshing in the heat.