Queen of the airwaves Abbie Chatfield has gone viral in Italy after criticising a bougie restaurant for only providing a menu with actual prices on it to her partner Konrad Bień-Stephen. The patriarchy strikes again!
News outlets in Italy such as Vanity Fair Italia, Libero Quotidiano and Il Resto Del Carlino published articles about Abbie’s takedown of the Venetian restaurant.
It’s fair to say our gal hath gone #viral in the European nation. Or, as the Italians call it “virale”.
Boh. A me hanno insegnato che le signore non pagano. Mai. Il mondo è strano @abbiechatfield #venezia #venice pic.twitter.com/GgQ98hVjJ4
— Stefano Ferrari (@stf_fer) April 7, 2022
Vanity Fair’s headline “Venezia, la protesta dell’influencer: Il menu senza prezzi per le donne? Sessismo,” roughly translates to “Venice, the protest of the influencer: “The menu without prices for women? Sexism”.
I can’t help but feel it isn’t a perfect translation but I blame Google Translate for that… Regardless, you get the point!
The intersection of conservative Italian culture and Abbie Chatfield was unexpected but I’m here for it. #prezziperledonne pic.twitter.com/O8LHvuG4pV
— Dyl (@dcrismale) April 7, 2022
Since Abbie’s criticism on social media, the Italian press has picked up the story and run with it.
As a consequence of Abbie’s critique, one of her Italian followers claimed that the restaurant “will now ask customers what menu they want to see. So, I think that’s a good outcome” as per the Vanity Fair article.
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The initial incident occurred during Abbie’s travels through Europe. She and Konrad stopped off for some classy tucker in Venice — the city of love (and apparently also the city of 1920s social politics).
When the pair were perusing the menu for a bite to eat, they realised Konrad’s was the only with prices on it.
Abbie had been given a “courtesy menu” since the man is always expected to pay at these fancy spots (???).
The natural next step for Abbie was to upload a recap of the night’s events to TikTok in a vid that currently has over 700k views at the time of writing.
@abbiechatfield First time travelling with money is WILD!!!!
All in all we totally reckon Abbie was justified in calling out these out-of-date practices that somehow persist under the guise of “tradition”.
As she points out in her TikTok, she is the breadwinner. And BOY does she make a lotta bread. Or, as the Italians call it “pane”.
