This Guy Got A DNA Testing Kit For $99 And Had Had To Say Goodbye To His Italian Heritage

Pretty much all of us have heard about the recent hype of genetic genealogy tests. Your friends, coworkers and maybe even family members have taken the test to find out about their ethnicity. The companies providing these tests invested millions of dollars into advertising to stimulate our curiosity. For instance, according to Kantar Media, in 2016 Ancestry.com spent $109 million on TV and other ads in the US. And it worked well, the genetic testing industry had 12 million consumers in 2017 alone.

These tests allow you to gain knowledge about your ancestors, find estranged family members or distant cousins. However, not everyone is happy about what they find out. Earlier we wrote an article about how one of this test turned into a serious family feud during the Christmas. And to be honest, there’s probably a lot more stories like this one, where genetic genealogy tests help people discover their family secrets.

More info: reddit.com

Image credits: Ann

That is exactly what happened to another Reddit user TheAtomicPlayboy who received a DNA testing kit from his wife. Raised to be a proud Italian, he immediately thought that the test is a waste of money. However, when the results came in, TheAtomicPlayboy was shocked by the news. As it turns out, there’s not a single Italian bone in his body. “Goodbye meatballs, hello Matzah balls,” he wrote because the test showed that he, in fact, is Jewish. And that’s how his grandmother’s affair was discovered. Do you have juicy family secrets that were uncovered by DNA tests? Share them in the comments!

“I was raised in a big Italian family – Christmas dinner meant cannolis, pasta, and lots of red wine. There’s just one problem, thanks to 23AndMe, I found out today that I’m not Italian.

My wife bought me the kit two months ago; I spit in the plastic tube, and sent it in to back to the lab to be analyzed (fully expecting that she had just wasted $99 because, duh, Italian). In college I even majored in Italian Studies, learned the language, and spent a summer in Desenzano del Garda “connecting with my roots.”

The lab results came back unceremoniously today, with an email confirmation “A world of DNA discovery is waiting.” Sure, whatever, just serve me my heaping plate of Deoxyribonucleic lasagna and let’s get this over with. I was certain that my results would show that I was a mixed cocktail of milquetoast European, with a good splash of Italian Campari.

Well, arrivederci family heritage. And buongiorno Ashkenazi Judaism!

My grandpa had already taken a genetics test, and boasted to the family that he was 93.7% Italian. Bad news, gramps, we are not biologically related.

I called my dad and shared the news. He admitted that the rest of the family had teased him and called him a “bastard” growing up because all the other men in the family had straight black hair and he has tight, curly hair. He also told me that he discovered his mom had an affair with a Jewish man while married to my grandpa but he never believed it was really true. He had avoided taking a genetics test all these years because it was easier not to know.

Mazel tov!

Now we’re trying to decide how to confront his mom (my grandma), and if we should share the news with the rest of the family. He’s taking it a lot harder than me. Understandably, he wants to know who his real father might be.

Meanwhile, I’m over here at 30 years old like how the fuck do I make up for 240 lost days of Hanukkah.

TL;DR – Goodbye meatballs, hello Matzah balls.”