Emily In Paris Claps, Lou Malnati's Claps Back

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By  Aimee Levitt

Surely by now you have heard of Emily In Paris, the Netflix series that launched last weekend about a plucky young American who descends upon the Paris branch of her marketing firm, armed with a smartphone, a closet of designer clothes, and complete ignorance of the French language and culture, to educate those poor old-fashioned cheese eaters about likes, shares, and the American way. In these dark and divisive times, Emily In Paris has brought us all together in admiration of its eye candy (remember when we could travel to other countries and have sex with strangers?) and derision of its annoying heroine and its promotion of ridiculous cultural stereotypes.

Naturally the French critics are the most offended, but Americans are annoyed, too, particularly those from Chicago, Emily's purported hometown. In an early scene, Emily's French boss tells her that he went to Chicago once and ate deep-dish pizza and it was, how do you say, disgusting. "Like a quiche made of cement," he declares. "Oh no!" cries Emily. "You must have gone to Lou Malnati's."

Lou Malnati's, one of Chicago's oldest and best purveyors of deep dish pizza, could not let this stand. It sent out a statement to food writers across the nation.

"We've been serving Chicago's favorite Deep Dish since 1971," said current chairman (and son of Lou) Marc Malnati. "When Netflix' [sic] Emily in Paris writers chose to take a shot at Chicagoans and our pizza to try to get a laugh, it felt heartless and not humorous in the midst of Covid-19."

To show that it is better and kinder than Emily In Paris, the statement continued, Lou Malnati's will be offering a $5 discount for customers who order its pizza through the website tastesofchicago.com and use the code TCXCHISTRONG. There is a catch, however, because there always is: the offer is only good for the four- and six-pizza packs. And, alas, shipping is only in the United States, so even if Emily were real, she would not be able to get a shipment to correct this terrible cultural misunderstanding.

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