Foodie Pronunciation Guide

Came across this - a pronunciation guide for French derived culinary words. Up here in the Great White, we take French for granted as it is our other official language and we take several years of it in school, so we forget that others don't share that background. Expecting people from other countries to know how tp pronounce French terms would be like expecting me to do the same with Spanish, based only on watching bad spaghettis movies, whereas I would think most Americans have a passing acquaintance with Spanish.

Anyway, here are a few terms with proper pronunciations if anyone is interested.

Bouillabaisse = BOOL-yuh-BAYZ

Coq au vin = kohk oh VAHN

Macaron = mack-uh-RON

Foie gras = FWAH-GRAH

Niçoise = nee-SWAHZ

Boeuf bourguignon = boof boor-gheen-YOHN

Crêpe = crehp

Croissant = CWA-sohn

Haricot vert = ah-ree-koh VEHR

Rillettes = ree-YEHTS

Please feel free to post any similar words that are prone to mispronunciation, be they Spanish, Italian, or whatever.

[Jenise]

Bill, on Facebook yesterday, a friend announced that she was making Osso Buco. Underneath her announcement, was a discreet offer from Facebook that I could click on to "See Translation". Of course I know what Osso Buco is but the translation offer was so unusual that I clicked on it anyway. And laughed! "Making a bone hole."

I love mispronouncing French. One of my favorites was an item on the menu of a restaurant in Bermuda that was written in both French and English. The item was "poisson de roche". My comment was "roach poison?"

-Paul W.

Hey Bill, I’ve always said con-fee but recently heard it pronounced con-fit by a Frenchperson on the telly. So confit, which way?

I believe it is con-fee.

[Jenise]

I too have only heard 'confit', but then I'm not usually listening to French persons. Is there an area of France where t's, usually silent, are pronounced?

Perhaps it was being anglicized for a Brit audience? You know, like filet (fih-lay vs. fil-it).

Perhaps it was being anglicized for a Brit audience? You know, like filet (fih-lay vs. fil-it).

but it's fillet in Britain, pronounced fill-et

[Jenise]

Regardless of how you spell it, it's the same word pronounced differently.

Bill, on Facebook yesterday, a friend announced that she was making Osso Buco. Underneath her announcement, was a discreet offer from Facebook that I could click on to "See Translation". Of course I know what Osso Buco is but the translation offer was so unusual that I clicked on it anyway. And laughed! "Making a bone hole."

Not going to touch that one!

Hey Bill, I’ve always said con-fee but recently heard it pronounced con-fit by a Frenchperson on the telly. So confit, which way?

Con-fee is correct French, but whoever said it the other way on TV was perhaps dumbing it down for ignorant furriners.

Interestingly, out here in BC, we always had French teachers who even if not from France, always taught us very proper French. I didn't realize how different the vocabulary and pronunciation were in Quebec, although I did learn pretty quick when talking to an acquaintance from Quebec that saying it was like English spoken in the Ozarks was not viewed favourably there.

In France they are strict about proper French notwithstanding that in some areas (e.g. Provence) the pronounciation is pretty odd to someone brought up on the 'proper' French. Oddly, in Quebec the stop signs say 'Arret" while in France they say 'Stop'.

In France they are strict about proper French notwithstanding that in some areas (e.g. Provence) the pronunciation is pretty odd to someone brought up on the 'proper' French. Oddly, in Quebec the stop signs say 'Arret" while in France they say 'Stop'.

I noticed a distinct difference between the Parisian accent and the French spoken in Burgundy. Quebecois is even more distinctive.

The Geneva convention for road signs designates the red octangular sign with STOP in it, either in English or the local language. Quebec obviously chose the local language. Perhaps EU regulations require STOP in English?

-Paul W.

Glad to be have it confirmed that my pronunciation is correct. Thanks.
However I suspect that as in most languages there are variations, because I don’t think the person was dumbing it down, it happen3d to be a woman in her own kitchen, speaking to Rick Stein who speaks some French

Hey Bill, I've always said con-fee but recently heard it pronounced con-fit by a Frenchperson on the telly. So confit, which way?

Unfortunately for us English speakers, it depends on the gender of the noun that it modifies. Canard and moulard are both masculine, so it's confit. But tomate is feminine so it would be confite. Thank goodness that at least in spoken French the plurals sound the same. You can see the two pronunciations in the Wiktionary listings.

https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/confite

Walt

Hey Bill, I've always said con-fee but recently heard it pronounced con-fit by a Frenchperson on the telly. So confit, which way?

Unfortunately for us English speakers, it depends on the gender of the noun that it modifies. Canard and moulard are both masculine, so it's confit. But tomate is feminine so it would be confite. Thank goodness that at least in spoken French the plurals sound the same. You can see the two pronunciations in the Wiktionary listings.

https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/confite

Walt

Thanks Walt I forgot about the gender thing

[Jenise]

So you guys will never guess what: last night, friends were over for dinner, and she who was raised in Vancouver and speaks French fluently referred to something as "con-fit".

I just about fell off my chair. Mind you, she's a picky eater not a foodie or a cook and doesn't actually understand what confit is, noun or verb. She has never once, I promise you, put duck confit in her mouth.

Turns out, because she speaks fluent French and has lived in the U.S. for 25 years but knows zilch about food, she presumed Americans would say "con-fit" so she just adjusted the word to the way she presumed we'd butcher it.

Go figure! And this is very possibly the way it happened in Barb's story, too!

Nothing to do with pronunciation and stretching to be food related but it is word related and I found it amusing enough to share
Last night a contestant on MasterChef said “I’m not here to put socks on centipedes “
Referring, presumably, to his determination to win. Never heard it before but love it!,,

I've had a lot of fun with the list and have gotten some strange looks. Especially from ah-ree-koh-VEHR, and CWA-sohn...both from grocery store employees! One day I asked the produce lady, why they never have Leeks. She said what are those? I pulled out my phone and showed her a picture. Next time I went in there, they had leeks, and have had ever since. Now I am on them to bring in more pepper varieties. And to stop calling Poblano peppers a Pasilla.

[Jenise]

'Pasilla' is pretty standard on the west coast. You might not be able to turn that ship around.