When you think about language as much as I do, there’s lots to ponder and chuckle at. For me, this is especially true in Israel, where I know the language, but always break the words down as I read, into roots and structures, discerning the meaning behind the meaning. And I love Israeli slang, idiom and phraseology. I just love it to the point of shiga’on.
And then I came across this, what I consider to be the best name for a pizza joint anywhere.
Pizza kim’at chinam (translation: “almost free pizza”). That is such cultural perfection that I don’t even know how to stop talking about how much I love it. It takes the “for you, a bargain!” sensibility of shopping in the shuk and applies it to pizza. I pictured the pitch meeting in my head.
Israeli #1: How do we convey that our product is affordable?
Israeli #2: We could give it away on the street…
Israeli #3: Tembel! We’re not giving anything away! We need people to buy it!
Israeli #1: Right…but maybe we could make them think about free stuff by saying it’s almost free.
Israeli #2: You mean like calling it “almost free pizza”?
Israeli #3: No, I’ve got it! We’ll call it “almost free pizza!”
Israeli #1: That’s genius…that way people will think about pizza and think about things that are almost free!
Israeli #2: Sigh.
I’ve never been inside to taste the pizza paradise, because that would ruin the magic. It’s like admiring something from afar and never doing anything about it, which I totally support as a lifestyle choice.
I do genuinely enjoy being in Israel. But let’s just say it’s the little things like this that make me fall in love.
*Click on thumbnail for full-sized image.
Zabaj: the Junk in Israel's Trunk 
You might be familiar with the supermarket chain called Half Free (Hatzi Khinam), based on the same notion. What’s really funny though is that at some point a competitor came that wanted to show how they’re even cheaper, so they called themselves “reva khinam” (a quarter free)… Brilliant.
The pizza, as the sign sais, is half free…Eat it, and you will pay in a different way…
In Jerusalem there is a big sign near Jaffa gate that reads “Free Parking” in front of a parking garage. It draws you in, and then you read the fine print once you are at the gate, where the first 30 minutes are free… 🙂
The pizza is actually nice, I’ve tried it in Rehovot and Ramat-Gan. The size is identical to Pizza Hut, and the taste totally worth’s 20 NIS.
Sorry, but the pizza is crap – a veritable culinary blight. I mean you get what you pay for, you know? Very little cheese, tomato flavored water for the sauce – it’s basically pizza flavored bread, and poorly flavored at that. I think they had this “pizza” in mind when they came up with the term “empty calories.” But this is the Jewish state and Jews love a bargain, even if it’s only a perceived bargain, judging by all the people lined up at their Jerusalem location. It’s like all the Mivtzas advertised everywhere wherein the price isn’t discounted at all – they just slap a Mivtsa sign on it to give everyone Jew-woodies.