I swear by Andy Herbach's "Eating & drinking in Italy : reading menus in Italian". It seems to correspond to jgk's need, it is cheap and will be useful for a lifetime of travel in Italy.
Posts: 5685 | Location: Toronto | Registered: 26 May 2002
Doru, that is my favorite as well. It is slimmer than Marling, although a bit taller. It still fits nicely in a shirt pocket. I am actually thinking of taking out the regional introductory section in the front and the restaurant listings (hopelessly outdated anyway) in the back, then having a new cover put on it. That would bring it down to less than a nice skinny 1/4".
Deborah Horn
In a previous life I was an Umbrian sunflower farmer. I'd like to do a past life regression and stay there. ----------------------------------- www.petsburg.com
Posts: 4762 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: 04 September 2001
quote:Originally posted by Doru: I swear by Andy Herbach's "Eating & drinking in Italy : reading menus in Italian". It seems to correspond to jgk's need, it is cheap and will be useful for a lifetime of travel in Italy.
Doru or Deborah,
Is this book organized alphabetically? I have the Marling Menu Master and it drives me nuts because you almost need to know what something is before you can look it up, since its organized by type of food, and not alphabetically. Its better than nothing but I find it frustrating to be paging through it in the restuaurant.
I hear you, Janet. Isn't it amazing what can drive each of us nuts and not bother others? I usually know whether what I'm looking up is a fish or meat or whatever, so Marling's organization doesn't bug me, and I'm not allergic to anything. Sometimes I miss a better quick check for the method or style of preparation, though. If I didn't already have Marling, I'd try Herbach, since Doru and Deborah know their stuff.
Posts: 2054 | Location: Suburban Philadelphia | Registered: 08 July 2002
Janet, After you get past the first 25 pages or so where the book discusses the characteristics of the specialities of each region you will find a few pages of common English words (alphabetical) and their Italian translation: ie:beef, manzo(di bue); cold, freddo; fried, fritto/fritti; peas, piselli etc. Next are a couple of pages of helpful phrases like: no smoking, zona per non fumatori. The balance of the book is the 60 some-odd pages of Italian words in alphabetical order. If you are a major gourmet, you will probably want to stick to Marling because it is more comprehensive. If you just need an easy to use menu reading guide, "Eating and Drinking in Italy" isbn #1-892975-59-9 should do well.
Deborah Horn
In a previous life I was an Umbrian sunflower farmer. I'd like to do a past life regression and stay there. ----------------------------------- www.petsburg.com
Posts: 4762 | Location: St. Louis, MO | Registered: 04 September 2001
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