S.O.S. �Socorro! I am having fits trying to translate stuff that seems easy as pie(pun intended). Richard!!! Any native speakers!!! Between converting from metric weight to American volume (grams to tablespoons, etc---c'mon, nobody outside of a commerical operation uses a SCALE!) and words not in my dictionary. Ok, take "pochar" for example: Poach? The closest I can come is "to lose color" BUT the recipe clearly says we don't want those cebolletas and peppers to brown at all. It's different from saute-ing; must mean the stuff in the pan is covered in oil---and while we're at it, is a cebolleta a CHIVE? I didn't think so, but that's what I got online My hunch is that it is a "young spring onion bulb still attached to the green top, but bulbous, not straight like a scallion"

So, does anybody out there want to be my food resource buddy? If you don't know the English, you can circumlocute enough so I get the general idea.

I will give you print credit for your assistance!

P.S.(later) I find that "pochar" means to fry in oil at low heat so as not to brown, also a fish site in Spanish that gave me the Latin, so when I put the Latin into Google... so now I know hake, turbot, sea bass and that an AMERICAN lobster is a bogavante. Still struggling and would welcome help

Hey Sue, seems you are quite the busy international gourmet since ya got that cable modem installed huh

As for cebolleta, you got it right above.

We will have to wait on Richard for the rest but if you need a translation for words like "ravioli de lata" ("canned ravioli") just let me know

Saludos,
jer....

I love this thread... this brings me memories of my grocery shopping in Leicester, U.K., and Pittsburgh, Pa., U.S.A., about a year ago.
By the way, "calabac�n": "courgette" (UK), "zucchini" (US). This was always funny to me: none of them has an anglo-saxon origin.

OK, Max, tell me the difference between a zucchini(which to me sounds like it's sweet as sugar, but is really bland, bland,bland)and the somewhat more Anglo-saxon sounding "vegetable marrow"(ick! what a concept!)

And I believe the British stick with the French "aubergine" for what we colonials call simply "eggplant".

Oh, Oh, Oh!!! I don't know that. I can't think of sweet "calabacines", and I'm sure that these were under "zucchini" signs in the places I did my shopping in Pittsburgh. Do you mean sweet as sugar, or just sweet? Anyway, I don't know what a vegetable marrow is... these English people always have different and difficult words for everything,... though British English is sometimes easier: "aubergine" = "berenjena", which sounds quite similar: too much French influence both North and South of France.

"Zucchero" is "sugar" in Italian, so the word "zucchini" sounds related(all from az�car, brought by the Arabic people to Spain, I think)Now, when I went to Dictionary.com, they said "vegetable marrow"="zucca" which sounds like a BIG zucchini(the -ini ending makes things smaller, like the -ito, -illo one in Spanish, I think) So: calabac�n(which sounds like a "small pumpkin" to me, but is a zucchini)courgette,and vegetable marrow are all one and the same thing. In Latin(I looked it up)Cucurbita pepo, one of a huge family of edibles.

For an interesting discussion of what to call it in another language(Icelandic!!) go here: http://www.hum.ku.dk/ami/courgette.html

So---nothing to do with sugar at all!

Food and language, my two favorites!

Sue, I have to get my hat off, as we say in Spanish ("tengo que quitarme el sombrero"): you're great in this. I have nothing to do here but learn, learn, learn.

quote:

In Latin(I looked it up)Cucurbita pepo, one of a huge family of edibles

could that be where the English CUCUMBER, Spanish PEPINO comes from??

You got it! Yes, it's a huge family of edibles: squash, pumpkins, cukes, and the (inedible but useful)gourds. I think melons are a pretty close relative, too. Ooh, those Spanish melons from summer 1962, heaped on the street! Not canteloupe, not honeydew....wonder what variety they were?