Tuesday, January 08, 2008

International Differences

I just about caused a riot eating baked beans and bacon for breakfast.....

Daniel and Andrew looked at my plate and said 'baked beans? Eeewww. You should be eating pancakes, waffles, oatmeal or biscuits', to which I replied that pancakes shouldn't be eaten for breakfast, but for dessert after dinner, and that biscuits were what they called cookies.

The conversation got a little confused at that point, until I reassured Andrew that I wasn't telling him that he was wrong, just trying to explain that there were differences in what people call food over here and back in England.

I also explained to Daniel how English people traditionally eat pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, which is the day before the period of Lent starts (the 40 days before Easter). I told him some of the things you can eat on pancakes, and how they can be savoury or sweet. When I said some people like cheese and ham on pancakes I about thought he would throw up!

Here are a few translations for you
American \ English
Cookies \Biscuits
Chips \ Crisps
Fries \ Chips
Oatmeal \ Porridge
Jelly \ Jam
Jello \ Jelly

5 comments:

Leann said...

What about crepes... since they are French where would you eat them? We eat them for either breakfast or dessert depending on how we make them. We have done savory or sweet with them with a whole host of fillings and toppings. Just wondering...

Kathleen said...

When we were kids we thought it was odd that some people had ketchup on eggs, or eggs on hamburgers. We thought it was odd that some people ate waffles with whipped cream or chocolate sauce as a treat, but hey, it WAS a treat, right?

Also, biscuits for breakfast is a southern thing. At least I think of it as a southern thing. We used to eat them for dinner. With fried chicken.

Food IS different in different places. Even in the US. Grits is southern. Chicken fried steak is... what IS it? In the midwest people make salads with marshmallows. And put cheese on "Oriental Salads."

And we have Jam, which is different from Jelly Or Jell-O. Jam is closer to preserves. Jelly has no seeds or actual fruit. And Jello is made with more gelatin and less anything else real.

And since this is so long already, may I just say that I love crepes, all kids? And really, what is a McGriddle but a pancake with ham and cheese with eggs?

Anonymous said...

Talking about how food and their words differ from one region to another - how about quahogs (word meaning 'clam' in several New England Native American tribes and now used as the word clam by many people up in that area). Or asking someone if they'd like a Coke and meaning 'soda'. Words are funny and the food is even funnier. A big New England hit is brown bread. This is bread baked made of several different types of flour (white, wheat, rye) with molasses and raisins cooked via steaming in a round container . We typically eat it with a layer of cream cheese when we have baked beans for dinner. I tried to find some in the south.... 20 different kinds of cornmeal available and ONE lonely can of brown bread covered in dust on the top shelf at the grocery!

Brandi said...

That is so funny! Whewn I was in Wales, on a hike up Mt. Snowdon, I had horrible blisters. I would ask people for a Band-Aid and got a lot of funny looks...until someone realized I meant a "plaster."

Also, are your baked beans similar to ones we eat here? I am curious what kind you eat that are not sugary.

Looking forward to your visit! :-)

Debs said...

The pancakes that I've seen Danny make for the boy seem to be thicker than the ones we have at home. The ones we have are probably more like what you would call crepes.

I was eating my homemade baked beans (for recipe go to One Weigh or Another and type 'baked beans' into the search tool in the sidebar). Back home, if we buy baked benas in a tin we would buy the ones that had no sugar or salt added.