Grocery Shopping or Dining in a Foreign Language

[gulfporter]

My first visit in any new city or country is a grocery or better yet, a public fresh food market.   I also love to explore foreign food markets in the US.

 

I have owned a home in Central Mexico since 2008 and my food/menu vocabulary is pretty good.  But I am still surprised and amused.

 

Today I went on the hunt for plantains to go as a side to a Jerk meal.  I normally look up translations for new items before I go shopping but I didn't this time. 

 

I found the regular bananas which are platanos.  But no plantains.  I tried to describe what I wanted and failed miserably....all I could summon was 'no es dulce,' not sweet.  

 

Finally the owner went to another area and came back with plantains.  "Platanos Machos!" he told me.  Manly bananas.  Gotta love it.

 

fyi, the first time we were in Quebec in the 1970s mi esposo ordered Ris de Veau thinking it was veal with rice.  It was sweetbreads.  He liked them and still orders if he sees on a menu.  

 

Our first trip to Spain in the early 80s, we splurged for a meal at the Parador in Cuenca.  I ordered a pork dish (sounded like a stew).  It was pig ears (finely sliced, but still a bit of a chew). 

 

We can't be the only ones who have stumbled with food in a foreign tongue....what's happened to you?  Of course in this day and age of ubiquitous travel many eateries' menus are in the local language plus English.  And of course there's now the quick peek at your phone for translation.

[Alex]

None as yet, but I'll be in Barcelona next month, so we'll see if I have any Catalan-related adventures.

[Maison Rustique]

Many years ago, my step-daughter moved to Japan to teach English. She was around 22 and spoke not a single word of Japanese. Her first phone call home was to say how challenging grocery shopping was. She said if the package or can didn't have a picture on it, she had no idea if she was buying something to cook and eat or if it would turn out to be something to put in the toilet for 50 blue flushes. She survived for a couple of years or so, so it all worked out and she didn't eat anything that killed her.

[liuzhou]

I've spent most of my adult life in countries whose languages were not mine. Never really had a problem. Never starved. Pointing is a great invention.

 

Shopping in supermarkets often helps as you can see what many things are and aren't normally required to speak.

 

Countries which use European languages tend to be a bit easier. At least platanos nachos looks and even sounds a bit recognisable. It's when you are up against non-Latin scripts it really gets tricky.

 

When all that's on offer is some 鸡肉 or કૂકડો or ไก่, then you're in trouble！

 

Most translation apps are now good enough to handle this sort of situation.

 

 

[MaryIsobel]

When I was 9, my parents rented a Westphalia and we camped throughout Europe for 3 months. My Dad knew very minimal Spanish and my Mom spoke only English. We discovered that people were much more patient with a child who didn't speak the language of the country so I was sent into stores with a shopping list on which my Dad had drawn a picture beside every item. Most shopekeepers found that charming and went out of their way to help me.

[chromedome]

13 hours ago, Maison Rustique said:

Many years ago, my step-daughter moved to Japan to teach English. She was around 22 and spoke not a single word of Japanese. Her first phone call home was to say how challenging grocery shopping was. She said if the package or can didn't have a picture on it, she had no idea if she was buying something to cook and eat or if it would turn out to be something to put in the toilet for 50 blue flushes. She survived for a couple of years or so, so it all worked out and she didn't eat anything that killed her.

One of those silly anecdotes I remember from a childhood Reader's Digest was from a family newly arrived here, knowing no English, who went out looking for something familiar as a quick and easy meal for that first night. They spotted something immediately recognizable - a container with a big, easily identifiable photo of fried chicken - and bought it, only to discover that it was Crisco.

[AlaMoi]

I'm with liuzhou on this topic.
been many strange places . . . eaten stuff I can't remotely name . . .
all part of 'the adventure'
actually, don't think I ever point/ordered anything I didn't like!

may well be I'd really not want to know what I was eating . . . but it was tasty!

[Smithy]

When my best friend and I launched off on a European 3-month tour in 1980, we had done our best to prepare. I'd been studying German; she'd been studying French; we'd both had years of exposure to and classes in Spanish.

 

That didn't help much in The Netherlands. Dutch may look and sound rather like German, but it isn't enough like German to get around -- and at that time, at least, WWII was much too recent for the adults to want to hear German. We did our best. I remember using a phrasebook in a grocery store to try to find butter, only to be told by a kind woman who spoke English that I'd just asked for a jar of lard.

 

We were determined to live on $20/day each, which was possible given a bit of thrift (and youth hostels). One afternoon, somewhere in some park in Holland, a food stand caught our attention. I walked up to the counter, looked at the menu, read it from the right-hand side. There was something inexpensive - maybe it only cost a Guilder - and the word looked familiar. I did my best to pronounce the word loudly and clearly, and handed over my money. The vendor gave me a funny look, then took my money and reached into a jar.

 

My lunch that day was a giant dill pickle. 🙂

 

[ElsieD]

I actually speak Dutch and if you are a Dutch speaking person you can understand quite a bit of German.  Not all, by any stretch, but enough to get around.  In Switzerland, we were in German speaking Lucerne and (thankfully) I had no problems reading menus.  That was, after all, the most important thing!

[liuzhou]

1 hour ago, ElsieD said:

 I had no problems reading menus.  That was, after all, the most important thing!

 

Indeed. When I moved to China, 28 years ago this week, the first thing I taught myself to read was 菜单, menus!

 

 

[liuzhou]

The memory I have most from the early days of learning Chinese was being in a restaurant and recognising the first two characters of 鸡肉冠 as meaning 'chicken meat' and assuming the unknown third character must be how it was cooked.

 

Feeling safe, I ordered it and was 'delighted' when a plate of cock's combs turned up, bright red and rubbery.

 

I've never forgotten what that third character means.

[aliénor]

my father, originally from austria/hungary, loved cock's comb.  i even took a nibble when i saw hi eating it and it was okay and interesting.  never saw them again as i got older

 

 

[IndyRob]

On 2/20/2024 at 6:02 AM, chromedome said:

One of those silly anecdotes I remember from a childhood Reader's Digest was from a family newly arrived here, knowing no English, who went out looking for something familiar as a quick and easy meal for that first night. They spotted something immediately recognizable - a container with a big, easily identifiable photo of fried chicken - and bought it, only to discover that it was Crisco.

Apparently, the Gerber baby food company ran into a problem in Africa when they started selling their products there.  Due to multiple languages and general illiteracy, people were used to pictures that represented the contents of the container.  Needless to say, a picture of a cute, smiling baby on the jar did not evoke the intended response.

 

Edit: Okay, maybe not.  Debunked. (saw it on QI, I think)

Edited March 5 by IndyRob (log)

[liuzhou]

7 hours ago, aliénor said:

my father, originally from austria/hungary, loved cock's comb.  i even took a nibble when i saw hi eating it and it was okay and interesting.  never saw them again as i got older

 

 

 

I don't mind cock's comb I've eaten them again since. I was just surprised that first time. Not what I was expecting.