Wednesday, September 16, 2009

El codigo de las empanadas (continued)

Continuing (briefly) with yesterday's topic. The whole vexed subject of empanada decoding is apparently infinitely more complex than one might ever have thought possible. I checked with Ciro this morning, and it appears that there is no 'universal empanada code'. That is, inferences based on shape or other indicators have to be drawn locally, specific to the particular place of manufacture. So that the fact that a triangular empanada from Jumbo foods contains tuna is of no help in deciphering the contents of a triangular empanada produced at a different establishment.

Ciro did say that some manufacturers try to help the consumer by tracing helpful abbreviations on the exterior surface of the pastry. Thus, 'CS' would mean 'carne suave', 'CP' corresponds to 'carne picada' and so forth. This system does appear to presuppose a certain command of Spanish, however - for instance, it assumes that the consumer is savvy enough to see past the potential eucharistic associations of the abbreviation 'JC' to figure out that the contents are more likely to be ham and cheese than the body of (depending on one's views on transubstantiation versus consubstantiation*) one's personal Lord and Savior.

*: a specific heresy subscribed to by assorted Protestant sects, or - to use the quaint Irish phrase - those who dig with the other foot.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The plain people of Ireland: here, you must take us for a bunch of dummies! Sure even an eejit would know that a ham-and-cheese empanada would have the initials 'JQ', not 'JC'.

Piechucker said...

It's all just Qrist for the mill.

gaelstat said...

Well, you've got me there. I might as well admit to having given in to the conviction that no blog can be considered truly complete without some mention of the whole sordid 'transubstantiation versus consubstantiation' controversy.

(wonders how to work in a discussion of simony in future postings)