Frustrating Words II: International Food Items

If we wanted to look up the word that is a form of citrus marinated seafood salad that originated in the Viceroyalty of Peru, we would look up seviche. Indeed, the Collegiate entry for the word seviche gives us no indication that it can be spelled in any other way, though there is an entry for ceviche, which only says "Var of seviche." Thus, I would take this to mean that seviche is the preferred spelling. The Unabridged has seviche or ceviche (listed under the former), and the OED also has the lead entry under seviche. Thus, we are taken aback when the Wikipedia article on it says that it is ceviche, but is is sometimes "erroneously" written as seviche. As you see, a real problem is developing. Then, when you do a Google search, you see that there are more than 10X as many appearances of ceviche than seviche. The "c's" have it, it appears, though if we are tested on it in the Senior Bee, which uses the Collegiate, we might have to go with seviche. Our confidence in the Wikipedia article diminishes ever so slightly when we read: "Ceviche (often erroneously spelt cebiche or seviche)... When you erroneously spell "spelled" as "spelt," well, you just might get kilt. Thus, while I love the salad, I don't really know how to spell it.

Kibbitzing with Kibbe(h)

You would think that every English-language dictionary would have a dish which is known as "the national dish of Turkey." Well, it doesn't appear in the OED, though the Unabridged spelles it either kibbe or kibbeh, while the Collegiate has it as kibbe, kibbeh or kibbi. The Wikipedia article, which describes its bulgur (cracked wheat) and lamb ingredients, says that it can be spelled kibbeh, kibbee, or kubba. Thus, we have a handful of spellings; I hope that won't keep you from eating it. We are told that the meat and bulgur mix, without the pastry crust is often served raw, and is similar to steak tartare, though you would be out of luck if you looked up the word tartare in an English dictionary. But the Wikipedia article gives us a pleasant story of the origin of the word, though I recally can't vouch for it. Apparently the nomadic Tatars (or Tartars) from the Central Asian steppes didn't have time to cook their meals, since they were always kicking ass on horseback, and thus they took meat with them and placed it under their saddles as they rode. By the time they reached their destination, the meat would be tenderized. This story sounds like it was made up by a British colonial officer with too much time on his hands, but I don't know. I would be interested if any of you can confirm this...

We are further told that kibbeh is popular in Syria, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories, and often accompanied with arak. In both the Unabridged and Collegiate, we are referred from the entry arak to arrack. The latter has two spellings for the word, while the Unabridged throws in a third: arrak. What is it? "An Asian alchoholic beverage like rum..." While we are at it, the article mentions that kibbeh is traditionally served with a tahina dip, which is a sesame seed paste. There are five times as many attestations in Google for the spelling tahini, and tahini is how it appears in English dictionaries. Thus, I will stay with it.

Confusion with Tzatziki

Well, you can spell this Greek dish (derived ultimately from the Turkish cacik) either as tzatziki or tsatsiki. The former is preferred 2:1 on Google, even though I could find only tzatziki in the OED, among dictionaries I consulted. The OED defines it as: "a Greek dish consisting of yoghurt with chopped cucumber and (sometimes) mint, esp. as an hors d'oeuvre or dip." Now I really am in trouble. Is it yogurt or yoghurt? Well, the former spelling is attested 2 1/2 times more than the latter, and I will stay with it until I am forced to change. We are told that in Cyprus the dish is known colloquially as talattouri or tarator, and in Bulgaria it is known as "dry tarator." Just thought you would like to know this if you are leaving for Sofia in the morning. Well, the article goes on to say that the same dish in Iraq is known as jajeek, though there are scant few references to it online, and none in the dictionaries.

But you get the picture, don't you? The Middle Eastern cuisine, which called things originally by Arabic, Farsi or Turkish names, gradually moved into Europe, probably with the intrusion of the Ottomans, and then took on new names in Greece, Bulgaria and other countries. Now, in our day of international travel, and presence of people from eveyr nationality in the US, we are enriched not simply by the words, but also by the food of these cultures. Only a speller could grumble, I suppose...

Finishing with Fattoush, and Others

Well, you can even find a recipe for fattoush online. It is a Lebanese salad, with the two unusual ingredients of sumac and purslane. The word fattoush, which seemingly has only one spelling (drum roll), means "moistened bread," and the salad consists of a chilled mixed salad tossed with small cubes of toasted bread. The ingredient is toasted pita bread. But fattoush graces none of our dictionaries, yet.

Well, I think I will end this by telling you some words I ran into at a natural food market in Portland, which I wandered into last week not to buy anything but just to see which new words I could learn. These markets always have items from very far away which they then can mark up considerably, and those who want to be one step ahead of the neighbor can buy these items and then brag about them to the assembled crowds at a dinner party. For example, I discoverd some of the following types of olives (maybe these are familiar to you, if you are are gourmet cook)...

Oh, let's start with a fruit. I confess I had never run into a peppadew before, which is called the "first new fruit since the kiwi." I thought the mangosteen could vie for that honor, but I am probably wrong. In any case, the peppadew comes from the Tzaneen area of South Africa and has a mixture of the peppery and sweet taste, but with a distinctive flavor. I didn't know about this area before "discovering" the fruit. I should have picked up the fruit and eaten it and then I could at least have lorded it over my friends for a while, but I was too intent on other things, as usual.

Well, in conclusion, let me just list some varieties of olives. I don't really know my olives, even though I have driven by Corning CA, the so-called "olive capital of the world" (at least in their reckoning) tons of times. So, there are cerignola olives. Oops, guess what? I did a search on "cerignola" and the first aritcle that came up tells about a recall of cerignola, nocerella and castelvetrano olives because of suspected contamination with Clostridium botulinum, a bacterium that can cause life-threatening illness or death. Whoa. Glad I didn't pick up the cerignolas. Why were they on display? I was in the market on April 9 and the recall was March 27. That may be the problem with "exotic" foods; they may pack some potent problems with them.

Well, I also ran across cornichons, which are "crist, tart pickles made from tiny gherkins." What are those little ears of corn called? I am sure they have a name. Then I ran into picholines, which are almond-shaped olives that have a medium green smooth appearance, which changes to a reddish-black when allowed to ripen. There are French and CA varieties--another reason to visit Corning... Finall, we have gordals, which are large oval shaped olives grown in Spain and the US, though with a rougher and meatier texture than most olives. By the way, the Hormel web site has tremendous descriptions of tons of food. Then,we have coquillos, which is Mexican plant---but I am out of time, and I don't have the time now to get into the plant kingdom.

Thanks for joining me. I am sure you know other international food items which don't appear in the dictionary. I am eager to learn about them.

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