Translating boundaries with restaurant menus. Possible strategies to translate traditional Tuscan food items into English

Florence and Tuscany are popular tourist destinations in Italy. Tourists visit the city and the surrounding countryside looking for scenic views and artistic landmarks, as well as to experience the local food culture. The idea for my paper originated with having to translate a restaurant menu – which arose numerous methodological questions. In particular, questions regarding how to examine traditional menu items from a linguistic standpoint and how to actualise effective translations for the real transactional situations where menus are used - i.e., buying a meal. The aim of this paper is to discuss some strategies devised to translate culture-bound menu items not only to help intercultural restaurant transactions, but also to increase awareness of the local culture. The paper also aims to generate debate on how menus, thanks to strategic translation choices, could be considered another “textual” opportunity which might contribute to help crossing cultural boundaries.