An Italian friend of mine recently opened a pizza a taglio joint in NYC so while I was stateside, I went to check it out with some Americans. One of the first things these non-Italians commented on was the description of the pizza: "highly digestible".
Since I know Italian and more than anything, I know my Italians, I understood it was a literal translation of alta digeribilità- which is a HUGE selling point for any food product here in Italy. As most expats know, Italians seem to have delicate digestive systems so it's important for food to be easily or highly digestible...but this "benefit" has no pertinence in American culture. Americans can relate to something that's defined "light" but "highly digestible" makes no sense to them even if the translation is technically correct. Digestibility is a concept that's lost on an American audience, don't you think?
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I highly agree...this would have no relevance to Americans...and the only way I'd understand it was because I learned about the Italians thoughts (obsession almost) about digestion when we lived there.
Every nation or culture has its own 'pet' illnesses and susceptibilities: the French are obsessed with their livers, the English always have a cold/ are just getting a cold / just getting over a cold ... and so the Italians worry about digestion.
I agree, Romerican- Italians have strangely weak digestive systems and Americans (and pretty much any other nationality you could name) never give their guts a thought until they are at least pension age.
Personally, I could digest pretty much anything- put it in front of me and I'll digest it. Spicy foods while pregnant, large glasses of milk all day long, large amounts of fruit, cauliflour, cabbage...you name it I can digest it. :)
My 10 month old is the same. My paediatrician nearly fell out of her chair when I told her that A loves melon- "highly undigestible" apparently.
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