A Fish By Any Other Name
Labels: seafood
Tuesday, October 09, 2007
I don't know if you've ever faced the same problem as me.
Being a foreigner in any country, and not speaking or understanding the language initially, can pose quite a challenge when doing groceries at the local supermarket. Especially when fresh produce like meats and fish are concerned. Especially fish. Many a time I would be stumped with the Dutch name, trying to figure out the English translation. First I would try to recognise the fish. Six out of ten times it's a no-go since all fish, unless it's salmon or eel looks the same to me. Then I would try and see if the Dutch word sounds remotely like its English counterpart. For example, zalm = salmon; ansjovis = anchovy; zeebaars = seabass, makreel = mackeral. At this point, the odds for success get lower, say, three out of ten times. For example, if you didn't speak Dutch, would you know kabeljauw was cod? Or zeeduivel is monkfish? That braam was pomfret? And so on and so forth.
Not one to be defeated, I did some research on the internet (couldn't see fish for a while after that) I found these two really helpful sites which have become my go-to reference of sorts.
Site #1 tells you the names of various fresh water fish in all the major European languages. Just so you don't mistake your common carp from the common perch, it even has corresponding colour photos.
Site #2 reads like a who's who list of the underwater world. It covers just about everything except seaweed and plankton. Languages include English, Dutch, Spanish and French.
The Dutchess of Cookalot whipped this up at 6:58 pm
Have you been to dutch school?
What I have are 2 books on 'Ingredients', except one is in English and the other is in Dutch. Both are the same book. This makes your life easier.
Regards,
Lannie
: October 10, 2007 11:32 am