10 wonderful British food terms

October 2, 2013·Lindsay

Treacle tart

First, let us welcome back the Food News Journal, which everyday publishes links to interesting food items. They've been on hiatus and it's great to see them again. And it's thanks to them that we came across this fun news item from the Miami New Times blog: 10 Adorable British Foodisms We Should All Adopt.

They give longer descriptions of these terms on line - feel free to check them out - but for the educational sake of our U.S. readers, and the amusement of our British readers, here are the expressions:

Jacket potatoes: Baked potatoes
Bangers: Sausages
Tipple: This term refers to a civilized drink, aka cocktail
Scrummy: A mash-up of scrumptious and yummy
Chips: Not potato chips, but French fries
Bubble and squeak: A mixture of mash (mashed potatoes), cabbage and other various veggies
Toasty: Panini (We love this one - it sounds so comfy)
Treacle: Molasses (Thanks to Harry Potter, we assume everyone now knows this one)
Fairycakes: Cupcakes
Fish Fingers: Fish sticks (Cue the pictoral image of fish with hands)

And now with Harry Potter on our mind, we can't resist referring to a Treacle Tart recipe from our indexed blog, Raspberri Cupcakes, (photo attached) . Enjoy!

4 comments

JaneOctober 3, 2013

I don't think gunung is correct about baked potatoes. What she describes sounds to me like roast potatoes. Growing up in the UK, baked and jacket potatoes were interchangeable names for potatoes baked in their jackets (skins).

lilhamOctober 3, 2013

Toasty isn't right either. It means warm. If you are wrapped up warm in winter, you are warm and toasty.

What they want to say is toastie. And they aren't exactly paninis. I usually use the term for those triangular shaped toasted sandwiches. Obviously it could also be a panini, as they are the posh cousins or a toasted sandwich.

There is even a cookbook devoted to the humble toastie
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Toastie-Heaven-reasons-sandwich-toaster/dp/009192278X

BloominanglophileOctober 2, 2013

I think my favorite British foodism is the word "moreish". At least I think it is British--I first heard the term when I lived in England. Someone correct me if I am wrong! Anyway, it is a wonderfully descriptive word for a dish you just can't get enough of!

gunungOctober 2, 2013

I don't think the first one is right. Jacket potatoes refers to potatoes baked in their jackets i.e. scrubbed but unpeeled, (usually wrapped up in foil with no added oil and then baked in an oven or BBQ) to differentiate them from baked potatoes which are peeled potatoes baked in the oven either basted with the drippings from a roast or sprayed with oil to crisp up the outside.
Another one to know in Britain is 'crisps', which we in Australia call potato chips, meaning the processed food version i.e. thin shavings of potato cooked in oil, the ones you buy in a bag from a supermarket or convenience store.