The Cat’s Tongue

“The Cat’s Tongue”
French: langue de chat, a delicate, elongated butter cookie, supposedly shaped like a cat’s tongue.
Japanese: nekojita, a person who is sensitive to hot- or cold-temperatured food or drink; so called because of cats’ disinclination to eat very hot or very cold food.
English: cat got your tongue? A phrase meant to imply that the addressee is inappropriately silent or unresponsive.

I love the confusion that occurs when cultures meet. I am especially tickled at the connections that a word or an idea makes across cultural boundaries. For instance, I have nicknamed my cat “Ciccia,” which mean chubby in Italian or little in Japanese. Hence I’m calling her litte AND chubby at the same time, which is true. So I hope that my blog about food and culture will bridge both subjects.

About me:
I am half-Japanese and half-mixed-up-American-Northwestern-European. So, I’m a mutt. My mom will even allude suggestively to Russian sailors perhaps washing up on the shores of her small northern Japanese harbor town, so who knows, maybe I’m even more mixed up than I think. I study Italian history, and so have learned a little bit about that culture as well.