# fette biscottate



## ru_disa

Ciao a tutti!
Qualcuno potrebbe dirmi come si dice "fette biscottate" in inglese?
Grazie mille!


----------



## Murphy

Cosa stiamo mangiando?  Potrebbero essere semplicemente "biscuits", o forse "toasted slices of....."


----------



## Saoul

Ciao Ru_disa, long time, no see! Welcome back.
The word is "Rusk" as far as I know. Wait for Natives anyway.
Ciao
Saoul


----------



## cas29

Yes, rusk is what I know them as.


----------



## Murphy

"Rusk" - usually used for baby food, so if this is what you mean,


----------



## ru_disa

Thank you everybody, you've all been very helpful...
And yes, Saoul, I've been away for a while... Lately I've been only active in the Portuguese forum... Good to be back anyway!


----------



## cas29

In my experience I wouldn't say "usually" for baby food - though it is certainly something they like to gnaw on when starting to eat solids.... In my circle of family and friends everyone of all ages eats them.

Women who diet often eat them too 

Maybe this illustrates a variation between UK and Canada eating habits.


----------



## Saoul

Same in Italy. We eat rusks at all ages. Not specifically for babies.

Pregnant women generally eat rusks to, in order to prevent morning nausea.


----------



## Murphy

cas29 said:


> In my experience I wouldn't say "usually" for baby food - though it is certainly something they like to gnaw on when starting to eat solids.... In my circle of family and friends everyone of all ages eats them.
> 
> Women who diet often eat them too
> 
> Maybe this illustrates a variation between UK and Canada eating habits.


 
It reminded me of a baby food product they used to sell in the UK which you mashed up in warm milk. Lots of adults used to like that too 

However, I'm sure you're right about there being different types. It's probably a good word to describe certain types of breakfast cereal, too.


----------



## cas29

Murphy said:


> It reminded me of a baby food product they used to sell in the UK which you mashed up in warm milk. Lots of adults used to like that too
> 
> However, I'm sure you're right about there being different types. It's probably a good word to describe certain types of breakfast cereal, too.


 
The rusks we had in Canada were almost always round, rather than like the squares you get here in Italy. I think they came from Denmark or Holland to tell the truth!
We usually put peanut butter or jam on them as kids, then cheese adults.
I think dieters put low fat cottage cheese...but I wouldn't put money on that.


----------



## TrentinaNE

Saoul said:


> The word is "Rusk" as far as I know. Wait for Natives anyway.


Natives of where?   _Rusk_ must be a BE word -- I've never heard of it.  Judging from the pictures that Google turned up for _fette biscottate_, I'd say they're called _Melba toast_ in AE.

Elisabetta


----------



## The Harper

As an ex-Brit, when I thought of Rusks I only thought of Farley's Rusks as in this link: http://www.heinzbaby.co.uk/products/heinz-farleys-rusks/farleys-rusks-wholemeal-150g.aspx which look pretty different to fette biscottate (certainly look more interesting!). I never had one because I considered them strictly baby food! I think even in the UK to use the term 'rusk' would be to refer to that product specifically and I think 'melba toast' would work best for both British and American readers. This link to the very-UK supermarket Tesco would confirm that suspicion: http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=274155783


----------



## k in the desert

TrentinaNE said:


> Natives of where?   _Rusk_ must be a BE word -- I've never heard of it.  Judging from the pictures that Google turned up for _fette biscottate_, I'd say they're called _Melba toast_ in AE.
> 
> Elisabetta



As a fellow American, I also scratched my head at the word _rusk_. Growing up in New Jersey, I'd always heard the  German word _Zwiebach_ for the twice-baked cracker for babies. And then later as _melba toast_ as you noted.


----------



## CPA

Surely _melba toast _is thinner than a _rusk _or a _fetta biscottata_?


----------



## k in the desert

CPA said:


> Surely _melba toast _is thinner than a _rusk _or a _fetta biscottata_?



Melba toast is thinner than a rusk, but that's why I mentioned the Zwiebach. I just described said biscuits to a friend of Italian-American heritage who grew up in Virginia, and he also came up with the word Zwiebach. Maybe someone from another part of the US would call it something different, but apparently many Americans used the foreign word.


----------



## Tristano

Well, melba toast is something very different to me. It tends do be darker, thinner, denser, and harder than "fette biscottate" so not the same to me at all. "Rusk" is really not a word anyone around here would recognize or use in any widespread fashion. Having loved eating "fette biscottate" for something like the past 25 years, I have yet to find a good translation in English, and generally have to explain what they are... 



TrentinaNE said:


> Natives of where?   _Rusk_ must be a BE word -- I've never heard of it.  Judging from the pictures that Google turned up for _fette biscottate_, I'd say they're called _Melba toast_ in AE.
> 
> Elisabetta


----------



## london calling

_Rusks_ to me are what you give to babies (as has already been said), _Melba Toast_ to me is different from a _fetta biscottata,_ and I've never come across the term _Zwiebach_ (I'm not saying it doesn't exist, I just wouldn't understand what was meant). 

I think I'd go for a generic 'crispbread' and then explain.


----------



## curiosone

I agree with Tristano (and Trentina) that there really isn't a specific translation, as we don't really have "fette biscottate".  But the closest equivalent of what people (like pregnant women or convalescents) would eat, to combat nausea, is Melba toast.  It isn't exactly the same thing, but it works the same (easily digestible, dry slices of toasted bread, that come in a package).

Zweibach may be of colloquial (east coast USA?) usage, as I'm not familiar with it (tho' I imagine I might find it at a large supermarket, if I looked for it).  But Melba toast is the the more familiar, widely-used term.


----------



## Tristano

curiosone said:


> I agree with Tristano (and Trentina) that there really isn't a specific translation, as we don't really have "fette biscottate".  But the closest equivalent of what people (like pregnant women or convalescents) would eat, to combat nausea, is Melba toast.  It isn't exactly the same thing, but it works the same (easily digestible, dry slices of toasted bread, that come in a package).
> 
> Zweibach may be of colloquial (east coast USA?) usage, as I'm not familiar with it (tho' I imagine I might find it at a large supermarket, if I looked for it).  But Melba toast is the the more familiar, widely-used term.



"Fette biscottate" are not at all the same as melba toast. If we are talking about a dietary issue, that's a different discussion entirely--but semantically, they are very different.


----------



## curiosone

Tristano said:


> "Fette biscottate" are not at all the same as melba toast. If we are talking about a dietary issue, that's a different discussion entirely--but semantically, they are very different.



I never said they were the same thing;  I said there isn't a specific translation of "fette biscottate" because we don't have them.  

We eat FRESH (and hot) toasted bread - not packaged (dry) toasted bread - which is basically what "fette biscottate" are.  

The only reason melba toast has been mentioned at all in this discussion (and not only by me) is that either you explain (each time) what "fette biscottate" are, or you say they're "something like melba toast" (in the sense that they're dry toasted bread, sold in packages)


----------



## Tristano

I never said you said they were the same thing. I was responding to the discussion of melba toast and offering my opinion, on which I believe you and I essentially agree, that they are not the same thing as "fette biscottate".


----------



## Nellieuk

I agree that "melba toast" is the closest solution


----------



## Bellalavitaluca

“French toast” or something very similar “crisp bakes”


----------



## Mary49

Bellalavitaluca said:


> “French toast”


This is not "fette biscottate":  French toast | meaning in the Cambridge English Dictionary    "bread that has been covered in egg and fried".


----------



## Benzene

_Il gruppo alimentare del "mulino" usa il vocabolo "rusk". Visto che è leader di mercato, il termine dovrebbe essere corretto.

Bye,
*Benzene*_


----------



## tsoapm

For BE, I guess melba toast seems like the closest to me too, even though there are differences. Crispbread seems more different.


----------



## theartichoke

Benzene said:


> _Il gruppo alimentare del "mulino" usa il vocabolo "rusk". Visto che è leader di mercato, il termine dovrebbe essere corretto._



Wikipedia certainly seems to confirm this, but as it also shows, the word "rusk" means a slightly different thing to different people, depending on where you're from. I'm only familiar with the South African kind, which are more like dense, slightly sweet _biscotti _made with buttermilk (they're actually pretty good) than they are like _fette biscottate_. "Rusk" isn't a word you hear much in Canada, other than maybe what you give a baby to teethe on.


----------



## london calling

theartichoke said:


> "Rusk" isn't a word you hear much in Canada, other than maybe what you give a baby to teethe on.


Ditto in the UK. If you say 'rusk' we immediately think 'Farley's Rusks', which are nothing like _fette biscottate_:


----------



## Paulfromitaly

Just in case people who have never seen/eaten any were wondering how fette biscottate look like


----------



## rrose17

It would appear they’re called Italian Toast crackers. You also see what we call “crostini” but those are usually made from sliced baguettes and I have no idea if that is just here in Montreal or French or what.


----------



## johngiovanni

Perhaps various ways of expressing this.  For Paul's picture I would suggest "Rusk bread slices".
Out of interest, I also would not expect to hear "rusk" very often nowadays.  I associate it with my infancy, primary schools.  But it was a delicious snack, so now I remember it with some affection.
Or even "Rusky bread slices" with the "-y suffix".  (Just cutesy nostalgia, perhaps).


----------



## Fooler

Paulfromitaly said:


> Just in case people who have never seen/eaten any were wondering how fette biscottate look like




That’s the one. And according to the net I found this translation into rusk biscuit (round or square shaped) normally used for breakfast or for sweet snack (eg with jam or honey on top). The Italian toast cracker is for salty purposes as showed in rrose’s link as supposed to be (according to the pictures) a sort of sliced round toasted bread


----------



## london calling

I think the time has come again to say what has already been said, more than once:* in English we have no word for fette biscottate. *
There are some random translations out there (rusk biscuit??)  but that's just what they are: random.


----------



## johngiovanni

I think the translation is very culturally dependant.  I wouldn't describe anything that looked like a slice of bread as a biscuit.
I will stick with "rusk(y) (bread) slices".


----------



## london calling

johngiovanni said:


> I think the translation is very culturally dependant.  I wouldn't describe anything that looked like a slice of bread as a biscuit.
> I will stick with "rusk(y) (bread) slices".


That's what I meant when I said "random translations" . I'm joking, JG. This really is the only way we can do it in English. We have to describe a 'fetta biscottata'.


----------



## johngiovanni

Hai ragione.  I could just eat one right now.  My rusky slice, that is.


----------



## theartichoke

london calling said:


> That's what I meant when I said "random translations" . I'm joking, JG. This really is the only way we can do it in English. We have to describe a 'fetta biscottata'.



Which takes us back to "it's something like melba toast, only thicker and less tasty." (I can't stand _fette biscottate._ Also, I would be utterly baffled by the word "rusk*y*" applied to anything.  )


----------



## italtrav

Ciao a tutti

Melba Toast is widely understood, but not a good analog. Zwieback, albeit somewhat less widely known, seems to me a good and proper translation.
This is the Wikipedia entry, which makes it clear that it is a version of Fette biscottate: Zwieback - Wikipedia. If we reject zwieback on grounds of obscurity, then I would go for rusk before Melba Toast.


----------

