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'Long Live the Nazis' spaghetti dish sold in Taiwan renamed after backlash

The restaurant's owner said she thought the name would help customers when choosing their meal

Kashmira Gander
Wednesday 20 August 2014 16:37 BST
A close up of a plate of Long Live Nazi spaghetti
A close up of a plate of Long Live Nazi spaghetti (EPA/DAVID CHANG)

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An Italian restaurant in Taiwan which named two of its sausage-filled dishes “Long Live the Nazis” has apologised after it was bombarded with complaints.

Tsao Ya-sin, the 24-year-old manager of the Rockmill restaurant in Banciao, New Taipei City, said she was sorry for her lack of sensitivity when naming the pizza and spaghetti meals containing German sausages.

She said that she had chosen the name to “help customers”.

“When we were deciding on a name for this pasta dish, it never occurred to us that the word Nazi would stir up such controversy,” Tsao told the Wall Street Journal.

She said that in the year that Rockmill’s had been selling the dish, it had proven one of its most popular dishes. The restaurant recently came under fire when a local TV station featured a story about its offensive dish titles.

Rock Mill Italian restaurant in Taiwan. (EPA)
Rock Mill Italian restaurant in Taiwan. (EPA) (EPA/DAVID CHANG)

Both the Israeli and German representative officers in Taiwan told the European Pressphoto Agency that they were shocked by the name of the dish, and said it showed a lack of understanding about history and the Nazis’ slaughter of Jews.

During the Holocaust, the Nazis killed approximately 15 million people, including Jews, Slavs, Gypsies, and prisoners of war in Russia and Poland.

Tsao Ya-hsin, owner of Rock Mill Italian restaurant, poses with the controversial dish
Tsao Ya-hsin, owner of Rock Mill Italian restaurant, poses with the controversial dish (EPA/DAVID CHANG)

Following the uproar, Tsao said that she planned to rename her meals “World Champion” as soon as possible.

Rockmill’s mistake comes after a restaurant in Teipei displayed photographs of Nazi concentration camps on its walls in 2000. Its owner took down the images, saying he did not know they were offensive, the Tapei Times reported.

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