Traditional Italian Sunday Dinner
Importance of Memorialization Through Joanne’s Menu
Joanne’s menu allows visitors to come to the public space and memorialize Joanne through taste. Each menu item has significant importance to the family, and in my interpretation, is Joe’s way of keeping the family together forever, even though he lost his sister forty five years ago. Even though his wife and two daughters have never met Joanne, her spirit lives in the food for them and all who visit.
Naming many menu items after members in the Germanotta family also allow for people to learn about Joanne herself. For those who walk into the restaurant having no background information on the place will be intrigued and invested when the open the menu and read not only the menu items, but the statements Joe makes. He shares his purpose for the trattoria, and who drive him to open it in the first place.
The Germanotta’s are proud Italians and it shines in the menu. Joe writes on Joanne Trattoria’s online menu that, “When you dine with us, our goal is to create that same sort of experience for you, among old friends & new, with a friendly staff, in a warm, cozy place” (Germanotta). The family like atmosphere allows people to memorialize Joanne in a traditional Italian way. Joe Germanotta also states on his website that the menu items are “Are the kinds of dishes Joanne and I always looked forward to on holidays and special occasions, days when we celebrated all the work and fun our family shares together” (Germanotta).
The only menu items that allude to Gaga in any sense are seen through the drink menu. Even so, if one does not know the name of Gaga's songs, then the drink items do not resemble her at all. This hidden Gaganess in the menu shares that the indivutal memory or Joe and the creation of his menu is kept solely for Joanne herself. The absence of Gaganess in the menu keeps the memorialization purposeful. This menu also keeps the memory induvitual, but allows the visitors to see what the traditional family recipies were, which can create an invite for a public memory.
