How to save goat and cabbage
A few weeks ago I wrote about some of my favourite Italian phrases involving food and drink. I had picked up a lot of the sayings in that first blog post through years of studying Italian, but there were one or two in there that I’d never come across before. Because I’m not Italian I couldn’t just rely on my memory, so before putting the post together I did a bit of research to see exactly how many phrases I could find. I knew perfectly well the importance of food in Italian culture, but I was still amazed at how many everyday sayings revolved around food and, in particular, around bread, wine and cabbage – but not all three together! The following are phrases that were new for me whilst researching for the blog.
1. Salvare capra e cavolo – To save goat and cabbage
This saying is often used in difficult situations. It’s the ability to make decisions that allow you to protect what you have in one particular situation. It makes reference to the tale of the farmer on the riverside who has his goat and his cabbage, but there is also a wolf on the same side of the bank. He has to bring his goat and his cabbage to the other side of the river by boat, and he can only bring one out of the three (wolf, goat, cabbage) on each trip. There is a solution that allows the farmer to ‘save goat and cabbage’ without risking that when he is on the other side that the wolf eats the goat, or that the goat eats the cabbage.
2. Mangiapane a tradimento – Bread-eater in betrayal
This dramatic phrase describes a person who lives at someone else’s expense without doing anything. I get the feeling some Italian politicians will have heard it before!
3. Dire pane al pane e vino al vino – To say bread to bread and wine to wine
A lot of Italian sayings also involve bread and wine as they are staples of the national diet. In this context, someone who says bread to bread and wine to wine is someone who is always honest and tells the truth, the exact opposite to a bread-eater in betrayal. Maybe it depends on how you eat your bread? 🙂
4. Come un cavolo a merenda – Like a cabbage as a snack
Cabbage as a snack? What madness! This describes a situation that doesn’t work at all.
5. Come il cacio sui maccheroni – Like cheese on maccheroni
This phrase, on the other hand, talks about two things that go really well together, like cheese and pasta!
6. Il miglior condimento del cibo è la fame – The best accompaniment to food is hunger
Does this need any more context? Is there any better time to eat food than when you’re really, really hungry?
7. Avere sale in zucca – To have salt in your pumpkin
This is the phrase I’ve learned most recently, and I’ve added it to this list because I’ve spent a lot of time around the province of Mantova, where I’m pretty sure the locals would eat pumpkin tortelli until they came out of their ears! It translates as “You’re smart as a whip”. To an Italian, an intelligent person knows the right way to bring out the natural sweetness of a pumpkin (or any other winter squash) is to sprinkle a little salt on top.
8. Finisce tutto a tarallucci e vino – Everything ends with crackers and wine
I thought this was a nice saying to round off this post, which I’ve had a lot of fun writing! It means that a situation ended with a positive outcome.
I’ve only touched on a few phrases here; if you spend time searching (or, even better, spend time travelling around Italy for a bit) I’m sure you would find hundreds of sayings like this. If you can think of any phrases I’ve missed out, leave me a comment at the end of this blog post or send me a message – I really love to learn new Italian phrases, it brings me a tiny bit closer to my favourite country! 🙂
Ciao a tutti!
Laura