posted by ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
owlfish at 10:35am on 19/11/2004
owlfish at 10:35am on 19/11/2004The same food is often called by different names in different parts of the world, but bread products, I believe, are some of the worst offenders.
There are saltines, salted tops, soda crackers, and soup crackers, all of which are the same thing in some combination of Canada and the U.S. I have no idea what they are called anywhere else.
When I'm in Italy and want a croissant, then I order a "brioche", which is something slightly different in France, the place from which both words come. (And if I'm in Venice, then I know the "brioche" will invariably come jam-filled, but I like it that way.)
There is the product I first met in the UK as "French toasts", then in Italy as "fete biscotate", and only the other week here in Canada as "rusks".
"French toasts" aren't the same thing as "french toast" is in Canada and the U.S. "French toast" is "pain perdu" in France, or, literally, "lost bread", since it's a sensible thing to do with stale bread.
A pancake is a crepe in the UK, although I have occasionally seen recipes for "American-style pancakes". Thus, in the UK, "Pancake Day" aka Shrove Tuesday, is a day when crepes are eaten.
"English muffins" are neither muffins nor English. According to this note, they were invented in the U.S., perhaps a botched attempt at a crumpet, a variation on a tea cake.
And then, of course, there's the elusive, inclusive word "biscuit", which means something very different to the Brit than to an American. In the UK it's a cookie, or a cracker, or even a chocolate confection with a wafery center. A Kit Kat could be called a biscuit, as C. mentioned just the other day when we were discussing Green tea, Lemon cheesecake, orange, and mint flavored Kit Kats. In the U.S., "a small round bread leavened with baking powder or soda" is what comes to mind. An American biscuit has more in common with "English muffins" than with cookies. (Canadians see the word regularly on both cookies and crackers, thanks to the French translation available on all Canadian packaging, but what a Canadian actually thinks when they hear the word "biscuit", I cannot tell you.)
There are saltines, salted tops, soda crackers, and soup crackers, all of which are the same thing in some combination of Canada and the U.S. I have no idea what they are called anywhere else.
When I'm in Italy and want a croissant, then I order a "brioche", which is something slightly different in France, the place from which both words come. (And if I'm in Venice, then I know the "brioche" will invariably come jam-filled, but I like it that way.)
There is the product I first met in the UK as "French toasts", then in Italy as "fete biscotate", and only the other week here in Canada as "rusks".
"French toasts" aren't the same thing as "french toast" is in Canada and the U.S. "French toast" is "pain perdu" in France, or, literally, "lost bread", since it's a sensible thing to do with stale bread.
A pancake is a crepe in the UK, although I have occasionally seen recipes for "American-style pancakes". Thus, in the UK, "Pancake Day" aka Shrove Tuesday, is a day when crepes are eaten.
"English muffins" are neither muffins nor English. According to this note, they were invented in the U.S., perhaps a botched attempt at a crumpet, a variation on a tea cake.
And then, of course, there's the elusive, inclusive word "biscuit", which means something very different to the Brit than to an American. In the UK it's a cookie, or a cracker, or even a chocolate confection with a wafery center. A Kit Kat could be called a biscuit, as C. mentioned just the other day when we were discussing Green tea, Lemon cheesecake, orange, and mint flavored Kit Kats. In the U.S., "a small round bread leavened with baking powder or soda" is what comes to mind. An American biscuit has more in common with "English muffins" than with cookies. (Canadians see the word regularly on both cookies and crackers, thanks to the French translation available on all Canadian packaging, but what a Canadian actually thinks when they hear the word "biscuit", I cannot tell you.)
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Talkie Toaster
Re: Talkie Toaster
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Brioche--was very amused to hear my host mother in Italy two summers ago enjoining her kids to leave me a mass-produced breakfast treat in its little
plastic package: "Da lei non togliere il maaaaffin!" :)
There's a related story here about jelly doughnuts being called Bismarcks in this part of the world and doughnuts in general in their various permutations--but that seems like high speculative philosophy to me.
Salted tops I've never heard of in my life. I hope you're feeling better though ;)
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I quite like Maple sandiwch cookies - they're one of the really good things about living here.
When you say jelly doughnuts are called bismarcks in "this" part of the world, which one do you mean - Indiana? They aren't called that in Iowa as far as I know, but an Albertan reports that they're called that in her home province.
Speaking of which,
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Arrowroot biscuits are great with tea. They're on the sweet side, but not overwhelming.
Bismarcks in Indiana, definitely not in Ontario.
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had no idea about the French/ Italian/ Venice pastry thing - despite having been through chunks of the first two, and supposedly being somewhat observant.
One day, I will get to Venice. One day!
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Then there's "oyster crackers," served with soup and salad in various parts of the US. They are relatives of the saltine, but are smaller, six-sided, and denser.
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A message from our sponsor
I eat Premium Plus crackers, not salted tops or soda crackers (although if you called them saltines I'd know what you meant.)
A holeless, filled donut is a Bismarck, not a jelly-filled donut.
A biscuit is a tea biscuit, made with flour and baking soda, and an Oreo or Chips Ahoy is a cookie.
I eat chocolate bars, not candy bars.
Smarties are little M&M-shaped colorful candy-coated chocolate pieces, not little disks of compressed powdered sugar (those are Rockets).
I don't cycle to the market, I ride my bike to the grocery store.
Pants aren't underwear; they're what you wear on top of your underwear - and your underwear is also your ginch, your gonch, your shorts, or your panties (if you're a girl).
And I am proud to be an Albertan.
[Okay, I think I'm done... :P]
Re: A message from our sponsor
That also explained why my saltines had the words "Premium Plus" emblazoned in inch-and-a-half high letters on the side, with a discreet little "Salted Tops" underneath them. Premium Plus just didn't ring bells as a kind of cracker to me. Thank you!
I know what Smarties are since they're everywhere here and in the UK, but I'm not familiar with Rockets. I presume they're flavored, as well as being compressed little disks of powdered sugar?
I knew I should have consulted with a Real Canadian (or at least one Canadian from every Canadian timezone for comparison) before making assertions.
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Those cracker with salt on top that you put in soup or have with peanut butter on them or whatever are called saltines, but I would also accept "Premium Plus crackers."
Biscuits are, as you say, more like an English muffin than a cookie. They're round, perhaps 2-3 inches in diameter, with straight sides, soft and doughy in texture, and they rise in the oven. Preferably consumed topped with butter and molasses.
Arrowroots are cookies, not biscuits. They're something like a digestive or a tea biscuit, though - a bit crisp but not hard, fairly bland and not overly sweet in flavour, good served with tea. Also often given to teething babies.
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pancake vs crepe
Re: pancake vs crepe
Thank you for the helpful illustrations! Hopefully they'll be useful to passing Brits who never knew that "pancake" doesn't mean the same thing in all places.