Juventus's Americans anger all of Italy with food slur
USA's Juventus pair Weston McKennie and Timothy Weah are facing the wrath of Italy after criticising the nation's famous cuisine.
The Americans unwisely agreed in an appearance on a recent podcast that the food since they arrived in Turin 'has no variety'. To dig themselves deeper into trouble when the Serie A season begins, both went on to suggest US restaurants were better.
Their comments prompted Emiliano Viviano, the former goalkeeper, to suggest in mock dismay that Italy's Prime Minister should take away their visas.
McKennie and Weah were being interviewed for the Juventus Talk With Us podcast when they were asked about the local cuisine since arriving in Serie A.
'You guys don't have variety - it's pasta, pizza, fish, steak,' said McKennie. 'You know what the problem is with Italian food? It's great, it's good specific food that you do very well, but in America if I go to a burger joint or a steakhouse, then I go to another place 10 minutes down the street, I'm still eating a burger, but it's a completely different taste. In Italy, I go to this restaurant and get a pesto pasta, I go 10 minutes down the street and order a pesto pasta, it's the same thing.'
Weah agreed he 'prefers Italian-American food' to the real thing. The comments sparked inevitable outrage in Italy, with former Arsenal, Palermo, Fiorentina and Sampdoria goalkeeper Viviano telling TV Play: 'The United States is the country with the worst food in the world. They would even deep-fry the soles of their shoes. If I was (Italian Prime Minister Giorgia) Meloni, I wouldn't let him back into Italy!
'How can you say there's no variety in Italian cuisine? His very definition of 'variety' irritated me. McKennie, there are 200 million of you Americans and all you ever eat are hamburgers.
'The truth is, all the food in America was brought there by other nations. I just want to tell McKennie that he has achieved the incredible feat of managing to unite all of Italy against him. It is not about fans anymore, he can be insulted by absolutely everybody.'
According to the Football Italia website, McKennie's food choices had already shocked Juventus team-mates, as they were 'famously horrified when he suggested cookies and brownies in pasta' or 'ranch dressing on pizza'.
'Most recently, he proclaimed his special recipe of 'pasta with pesto, tomato and chicken,' the website adds.
Juventus are currently competing at the Club World Cup and are leading Group G ahead of a showdown with Manchester City on Thursday.
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