Apple’s famous silhouette iPod commercials used to propel catchy songs and up-and-coming groups into the national conciousness. Now Apple’s Siri campaign is generating buzz, albeit to a lesser degree, for a sausage. You know the ad: John Malkovich is sitting at home listening to opera (he’s so erudite!) and discussing his dinner plans with Siri. It has aired during every single commercial break for the past three weeks.

We have no idea how effective the ads have been for Apple, but they’ve definitely piqued some interest in linguica, a mild Portuguese sausage that, personally, we’d just assumed was some kind of linguini, until we Googled it. We weren’t the only ones:

So far, the surge in Google searches for linguica hasn’t directly translated into a nationwide linguica craze. Nevertheless, the linguica industry is excited. “I was pretty happy when I saw that,” says Bob Gaspar, co-owner of Gaspar’s Sausage in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts, which is the top Google hit for linguica aside from Wikipedia. “I received all kinds of phone calls from friends and relatives saying , ‘Bob, did you see the John Malkovich commercial with the iPhone?’”

As for a boost in sales … eh, a little. “You know, I wouldnt say they’ve soared,” says Mark Ribeiro of Famous Foods, which handles online orders for Gaspar’s, “but yeah, we’ve seen a little bit of an increase.”

In other words, it’s the biggest thing to happen to linguica probably ever.