Names, Sticks and Stones
What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet. That's what Shakespeare or his friend, Christopher Marlowe, asserted. Yet, if we were to call a rose a stink-cabbage, our minds would shrink from sticking our nose in one. Can we use the name of a criminal organization and turn it into a diner's gratifying experience? Certain Italian associations and the European Union don't think so.
The European Union, pressed by the Italian government, has issued a complaint against La Mafia Se Sienta a la Mesa chain restaurants obliging them to change their name. If the chain does not do so, it will be forced to close. Various associations within Italy claim that the common use of the name "Mafia" is an attempt to normalize that criminal organization and should be stopped by the European Union. The decision has been appealed, and the view of the owners of the original restaurant and the chain, is that they do not promote the criminality of the Mafia.
From what I have seen on internet and the news reports, the décor is mostly based on The Godfather trilogy. Even the name is in the same style as the title of the movies. The menu is that of an Italian restaurant that calls out to Spanish tastes. I checked out the menu of the restaurant in A Coruña (I've never been) and it's typical Spanish-Italian. There are even some plates named for characters of the movies, such as a "Don Vito" pasta plate. The prices are normal, medium prices, generally in the range of €10 to €20.
I suppose you can see them in the light you want to see them. They can be a play on the movies, and the food in them, simply entertainment. Or they can be a vindication of the lifestyle of corruption and crime. It would depend on the diner. But how many restaurants, chains and originals, can't be construed in different ways? Now, with the strange clown scare in the United States and the U.K., McDonald's had to hide Ronald from sight for a while, because of objections to clowns. Yet I think we can agree Ronald is not homicidal. Another chain in Spain, Peggy Sue's, has décor based on 1950's American diners, with pictures of men and women as depicted sixty years ago. That chain could be accused of sexism and falsification of American culture. Where do we stop?
If we head down that road, we wouldn't have any more movies on the Mafia, or any corrupt or criminal organization. There wouldn't be any books about serial killers or criminal individuals; American Psycho comes to mind. Or series like Breaking Bad. Nothing that might be construed as an exaltation of criminality would be published or filmed. And most things can be construed in about five different directions according to who sees them or reads them.
Obviously, the chain wasn't about to call itself The Godfather because that title has been taken. No one lays claim to "Mafia" and that's the name the chain decided to use to remind diners of the actual movies and books. It has only tangently anything to do with the real criminals. It doesn't celebrate them, it only serves food they might have eaten if they had come to an Italian restaurant in Spain. There was a famous movie here, Ocho Apellidos Vascos. It was a comedy which stereotyped Basques and Andaluces. The nationalist angle and ETA were mentioned. Nobody thought the movie exalted the terrorist movement. We have to learn to look at things dispassionately and not lose ourselves in the maze of thinking everything has a deeper meaning than it really has.
For real Italian cooking, I would prefer to travel to Italy. And I bet I would find some tongue-in-cheek reference somewhere to Vito Corleone there, too.
The European Union, pressed by the Italian government, has issued a complaint against La Mafia Se Sienta a la Mesa chain restaurants obliging them to change their name. If the chain does not do so, it will be forced to close. Various associations within Italy claim that the common use of the name "Mafia" is an attempt to normalize that criminal organization and should be stopped by the European Union. The decision has been appealed, and the view of the owners of the original restaurant and the chain, is that they do not promote the criminality of the Mafia.
From what I have seen on internet and the news reports, the décor is mostly based on The Godfather trilogy. Even the name is in the same style as the title of the movies. The menu is that of an Italian restaurant that calls out to Spanish tastes. I checked out the menu of the restaurant in A Coruña (I've never been) and it's typical Spanish-Italian. There are even some plates named for characters of the movies, such as a "Don Vito" pasta plate. The prices are normal, medium prices, generally in the range of €10 to €20.
I suppose you can see them in the light you want to see them. They can be a play on the movies, and the food in them, simply entertainment. Or they can be a vindication of the lifestyle of corruption and crime. It would depend on the diner. But how many restaurants, chains and originals, can't be construed in different ways? Now, with the strange clown scare in the United States and the U.K., McDonald's had to hide Ronald from sight for a while, because of objections to clowns. Yet I think we can agree Ronald is not homicidal. Another chain in Spain, Peggy Sue's, has décor based on 1950's American diners, with pictures of men and women as depicted sixty years ago. That chain could be accused of sexism and falsification of American culture. Where do we stop?
If we head down that road, we wouldn't have any more movies on the Mafia, or any corrupt or criminal organization. There wouldn't be any books about serial killers or criminal individuals; American Psycho comes to mind. Or series like Breaking Bad. Nothing that might be construed as an exaltation of criminality would be published or filmed. And most things can be construed in about five different directions according to who sees them or reads them.
Obviously, the chain wasn't about to call itself The Godfather because that title has been taken. No one lays claim to "Mafia" and that's the name the chain decided to use to remind diners of the actual movies and books. It has only tangently anything to do with the real criminals. It doesn't celebrate them, it only serves food they might have eaten if they had come to an Italian restaurant in Spain. There was a famous movie here, Ocho Apellidos Vascos. It was a comedy which stereotyped Basques and Andaluces. The nationalist angle and ETA were mentioned. Nobody thought the movie exalted the terrorist movement. We have to learn to look at things dispassionately and not lose ourselves in the maze of thinking everything has a deeper meaning than it really has.
For real Italian cooking, I would prefer to travel to Italy. And I bet I would find some tongue-in-cheek reference somewhere to Vito Corleone there, too.
Comments
Post a Comment