Wordcrafter recently had a theme about foods. It made me think about interesting food words. For example, amuse bouche, a French pre-appetizer, meaning to "amuse the mouth".

How about the Chinese dim sum and the Spanish tapas--these tiny portions of a variety of dishes? What a wonderful way to experience a culture! Interestingly, tapa means lid in Spanish; tapas was originally served covering a bottle or small glass of wine or beer.
Any other interesting foods or food words?

Balti, has become another type of curry recently in this country, but I think the word just means bucket. A balti didn't have any particular spices or flavour. It was just served without any frills in the cheapest possible manner.

I have never heard of balti. However, I did find it on this Birmingham Balti website....which brought up a new word for me--"Brummies"?

Brummies"?[/QUOTE]

People from Birmingham. Possibly the most characterless city in Britain.
Avoid them at all cost.
They have the worst accent in the British isles.
If you dare to go there they will steal your car.
Be warned!

Having said which, the area around Birmingham is rich in heritage and has some excellent pubs. But I agree, Birmingham itself is a soulless city and even its canals (it has more miles of canal than Venice) are mostly hidden from view by vast, slablike 1950s buildings.

Richard English

quote:

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Originally posted by FatStan:


People from Birmingham. Possibly the most characterless city in Britain.
Avoid them at all cost.
They have the worst accent in the British isles.
If you dare to go there they will steal your car.
Be warned!

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I'm assuming here that you understand the difference between a Brummie and a decent hard working salt-of-the-Earth black country lad like me.
It's too much to hope that anyone on the board (with the exception of RE) can separate the accents though.

Purgamentum init, exit purgamentum

Read all about my travels around the world here.

Thanks for the elucidation of "Brummies"!

I just read about a word for the crust that forms on pudding...."Melvin". The book said it was a "third generation family word" because a "Melvin" use to scrape it off. Whether it is a true word or not for that crust, there should be one. It forms on any cooked pudding.

I also read an interesting story about sirloin. Evidently there has been a myth that some English king "knighted" a cut of beef, which then became "Sir Loin". In reality, the word dates back to the 15th century, being derived from Old French surlonge: sur--"on" and the longe or "loin"; in Latin, super lumbus.