A new survey shows that diners are routinely baffled by items they see on dessert menus. Only 35% of the 2,000 British adults surveyed recognised the term ganache, while only 13% could say what a tuile was.
Moreover, 40% could not define mousse, three-quarters had no idea what a coulis was, and up to 80% would give up if confronted by the word posset.
Who on earth did they ask? I bet they all recognised 'slushie' and 'McFlurry' though!
This ignorance extends to savoury dishes as well. Other surveys have revealed that frequently misunderstood menu terms include terrine (a coarse paté), crudo (raw, basically), lardo (an Italian cured pork product), and en papillote (cooked in a paper parcel).
These are all foreign words, I note. Why ask this, and not English regional delicacies, such as cranachan, or bara brith?
Unless the whole idea was to paint the UK population as unsophisticated yokels to make your readsrship seem well-rounded and give them a sense of superiority and...which paper was this published in again?
Ah...
Out of all them words I knew one - Mousse (Obviously)
ReplyDeleteI eat in places where you fill up on poppadoms and lager, then squeeze in a balti with chips. If ever I do have room for a dessert (rare), I'm quite fond of the Baileys cheesecake and Mrs Bucko likes to have the Bugs Bunny iced cream, because you get to keep the cup
A menu with all those words on it, would have me out the door faster than a 'Kids Eat Free' sign
"which paper was this published in again?"
ReplyDeleteI was way ahead of you!
Well I'm struggling a bit so presumably I'm an ignoramus too. But don't menus usually have a brief description of the dish underneath the name of it? Failing that you could always Google it.
ReplyDeleteGeeza chocolate chowks
ReplyDeletePosh diners at the Gruniad (sic)? Can't be surely? Thank all that is holy that their fate is decided. Should their revolution ever materialise they will be either first up against the wall or first off the roof.
ReplyDeleteI remember a scene in the Dave Freer/Eric Flint novel (Rats, Bats and Vats) where an ex-chef described exactly what those type of words mean, as opposed to what everybody pretends they do. or there's:
ReplyDelete“They don't go in for the fancy or exotic, but stick to conventional food like flightless bird embryos, minced organs in intestine skins, slices of hog flesh and burnt ground grass seeds dipped in animal fats; or, as it is known in their patois, egg, sausage, bacon and a fried slice.”
― Terry Pratchett, Mort
The hilarious bit is that almost every one of those preening and pretending superiority because 'they' know what those words supposedly mean ... wouldn't be able to cook or prepare one of them, and would probably have a fit of veganism if they were made to (I'm being generous, because the average Grauniad reader if asked to provide even the most basic necessities for themselves, would ... starve to death, or end up eating each other).
As in all things now, it is form over function, style over substance, and above all, being associated with the 'right' sort of people. It doesn't matter what they mean, whether you even like to eat them, you absolutely must pretend to or be expelled from the woke collective.
The ultimate best bit though? Every one of those words describe foods and ways of preparing them that were forced onto 'the peasants' because 'their betters' stole all the "good bits".
The level of insecurity and shame involved in dressing like working class (just with coiffed and pomaded facial hair and £600 "lumberjack" shirts - and that's just the women), talking "street" and eating peasant food, is staggering. It's just a shame someone, or circumstances, couldn't simply put them out of our misery.
Haggis in Edinburgh sounds good though.
ReplyDelete"A menu with all those words on it, would have me out the door faster than a 'Kids Eat Free' sign"
ReplyDelete😁😂
"But don't menus usually have a brief description of the dish underneath the name of it? Failing that you could always Google it."
Good point!
"Should their revolution ever materialise they will be either first up against the wall or first off the roof."
And there won't be a menu in sight!
"The hilarious bit is that almost every one of those preening and pretending superiority because 'they' know what those words supposedly mean ... wouldn't be able to cook or prepare one of them..."
I can, and have! Apart from lardo, but I've bought it.
"Haggis in Edinburgh sounds good though."
Ugh, no! Not falling for that, it's what they said about Guinness in Dublin, and that's not true either, it's just as horrid!