MovieChat Forums > Politiki kouzina (2003) Discussion > Greek title

Greek title

posted 19 years ago by draeth
11 replies | jump to latest

Hello, greek speakers.

I just saw this film called "A Touch of Spice", and noticed now that the greek title is "Politiki kouzina". I don't speak any greek but my first guess was that the greek title means something like "political cooking". On the other hand the greeks in the film called Istanbul/Constantinople "Polis", so maybe it means "constantinoplean cooking". Or does it mean something totally different?
Howsoever, it seems to be quite different from the english title. I always prefer a literal translation of a film's (or book's) title.

[–] maria-37 19 years ago

When we stress our voice in li (po-li-ti-ki) it means everything that refers to Polis (Constantinople), which is the title's sound of the word. Therefore Politiki Kouzina means Polis' cuisine. But one can hear and remember the other word with the sound stress on Ki, which means Political cuisine.

[–] kastoriani 19 years ago

Dreath,

You are right about the pronunciation of the title. In an interview that I heard Tassos Boulmetis said that that is exactly the reason the first word of the title in Greek is in capitals - there's no intonation ("tonos") so one can read it either way. Whatever the case, whether the "kouzina"/cooking refers to Polis or to politics, it describes the movie perfectly.
Mr. Boulmetis deserves a lot of congrats for this work of his. Wonderful movie!

[–] manos_iko 19 years ago

I don't believe Mr. Boulmetis has any direct intention to implicate the Greek or Turkish foreign policy. Politiki kouzina is in general the cuisine of the greeks from Konstantinoupolis. Often this cuisine includes the cuisine of the greeks that used to live (and many still live) in west Turkey. The believes of the protagonist are presented and compared with this cuisine.

[–] fudaru 19 years ago

Like kastoriani said, I heard Mr. Boulmetis say that POLITIKI can be read either way and it was done intentionally this way...

"There is difference between knowing the Path and walking the Path.."

[–] p_panais 19 years ago

as a greek, i take the title to mean Political Kitchen...meanign that kitchens are seen to be as a place where chaos can occurr there for, politcal kitchen ( chaos) fits well as it deals with the expaultion of teh Greeks from Turkey..chaotic

send your thoughts

[–] fudaru 19 years ago

Dear Panais,

A kitchen may seem chaotic to a non-cooking man :p. For a woman (especially one that likes cooking)it is a place for creation where almost everything seems to be in order -her order-.

We add little bits of this and that and we produce something, even in politics.. So I believe the term "kitchen" does not imply the chaos in political multinational relations, but the whole procedure by which something must be achieved..

Nevertheless I find your ideas interesting...

E.

"There is difference between knowing the Path and walking the Path.."

[–] bittermilk 19 years ago

Never thought of kitchen this way, even though I didn't always love to cook myself ))) Kitchen has always been considered the centre of home, a kind of sacred place, something close to what the altar in honour of Estia (Vesta) must have been in ancient Greece ! As for men (or women) living alone, I can tell it's easy to transorm any room in total chaos, lol !
Anyway, I find the english title very appropriate, wish more titles of forreign film could be as close to the idea of the original )))

[–] Anna2263 18 years ago

Yup i took it the same way panais in both translating the title and its underlying meaning. I also like the English title. They're both different yet they work well.

[–] Euphrosyne 17 years ago

Anna2263, I have to agree with you about the titles - they both work quite well.

However, I had no idea about the different readings of the original Greek title (the pronunciation changing the meaning, etc.) and have found this to be a really fascinating thread.
Maria-37 and kastoriani - I found your posts to be especially interesting.
Thank you for the insights.

[–] Counting_Stars 17 years ago

Hello there!
I am quite surprised that you actually noticed the greek title. Hm, good for you!
Well, your guesses are both correct. The title Politiki Kouzina, literally means "cuisine from Istanbul", because the stress goes to "LI". Now, if the stress had to go to "KI", that is "politik`i" that would mean political. The greeks often call Constantinople POLI, which means city, because they say it is the mosty beautiful of cities, hence the title.
Given the fact that there is a lot of politics going on between the two countries, the title of the film, I gather, was not picked by chance!

I am sorry for the grammar bit, but you asked!!

Thalia

[–] EasternMafia 15 years ago

Our Croatian translator stupids call it a LIFE