Thread: localismos comestibles

And yet we travel from country to country and nobody starves to death.

In Brazil there's a common, nice, and tasty sandwich called americano. In Sao Paulo I invited a taxi driver and a lady to lunch. She ordered an americano, saying "Nunca comí um americano." The driver laughed at her joke, but she said I wouldn't understand. Well, the laugh was on her when I said I'd understood. "Comer" is Brazilian slang for "to have *** with".

The americano had nothing in common with American sandwiches. Nor had I ever seen in my native California the "pizzas tipo California" that were common in Brazil. "California" implies that fruits are used. Yes, Brazil has fruit pizzas, ice cream pizzas, chocolate pizzas... You name it, Brazil has it.

CHORIZO! That's another topic! Chorizo in many countries is a type of sausage. In Mexico it seems to be mainly lard and chile. It tastes great with eggs (or on a pizza), but you certainly don't make a sandwich out of it as in Argentina. Same name, quite different food.

Longaniza is a tasty sausage in Guatemala, but off the top of my head I don't know of another country that has it. It doesn't seem to be known in Costa Rica, but I get the feeling I've read or heard the word elsewhere.

hola, hugo! excelente tu trabajo!
algunos comentarios y aportes:

bacon: tocineta (Arg, Col, CRica, Cuba, Pan, Prico y Ven), bacón, beicon, panceta, tocino (ahumado)
(en Argentina le decimos "panceta")

banana: plátano, banano, guineo (Cub), cambur (Ven)
(en Argentina, "banana")

sandwich: bocadillo (Esp), emparedado, bocata, sándwich
(en Argentina, generalmente sándwich, y también, en forma "casera", "sánguche", aunque nunca lo escribimos así!)

appetizer: entremés, aperitivo, tapas (Esp), botana (Méx), bocaditos (Perú)
(acá nos gusta comer una "picada" [= tapas], antes de un buen "asado" [no es igual a una "barbacoa", pero da para un debate!] con muchos "productos de copetín" [= snacks], como papas fritas [= potato chips] y demás cosas saladas)

filet mignon: solomillo (de ternera) (Esp); bife de lomo (AmL) /también "lomito" en Arg., el sandwich de un bife de lomo.
(what about "steak" = "churrasco", "bife" en Argentina)

pork: cerdo, puerco, cochino, marrano, chancho (Chi) (en Arg. también: pero "chancho" es para insultar suavemente a alguien que come mucho o mal, o hablar de animales vivos... la carne es de "cerdo")

strawberry: fresa, frutilla (Chi) (en Arg. también frutilla)

tripe: mondongo (Ven) (en Arg. tb), callos (Esp), pancita, guatitas (Chi), tripa, menudos

se me ocurrieron, además: (no sé exactamente dónde se usa una u otra forma, excepto las que se usan acá)

"pepper" (the vegetable, not the condiment) = pimiento, ají (Arg.), morrón (Arg.), chile (con todas las variantes: poblano, jalapeño, etc.) (Méx)

"cherry tomato" = tomate "cherry" (en Arg.), tomate guindilla

"zucchini" = en Arg., la misma palabra o "zapallito largo", y tenemos un "zapallito" que es de forma similar a un tomate, verde bien oscuro por fuera y amarillento por dentro. (en inglés también está el "squash", y aquí hay variedad de calabazas/zapallos: coreano, italiano, etc.)

hugo, por favor, no dejes de pasarnos tu glosario cuando esté listo! y mientras tanto, seguiremos aportando!!!
laura

I love this thread!!! and as you say, Thomas, nobody goes hungry here...

Funny thing, in some areas of my country (mainly in my hometown, La Plata), un americano is a cup of coffee served in a not-too-big mug, meaning a bit more of water for the same amount of coffee a small cup takes. The joke would work here, too, if we "ate" the americano (but as it's coffee, we "drink" it)! (I mean, the same slang meaning of "eat" works here.)

We do have chorizos, as you mentioned, and the sandwich made of them (and very commonly sold out of a grill on the sidewalk, outside "fútbol" (soccer) games and discos) are called "choripán" (chorizo + pan, bread). There's also "morcipán" (morcilla, blood sausage, + pan).

We do have longaniza here, too, among some other sausages. The pizza with pieces of longaniza on top of tomato sauce we call "calabresa". Hmmm... hungry!

sandra!
another great thing about this forum... we've just "shared" a couple of choripanes and americanos!!!

The PEJIBAYE of Costa Rica is known as the CHONTADURO in Colombia. It grows in palmtrees and is about the size of a tennis ball. It is cooked in boiling water and then roasted. Costa Ricans love to put mayonaise on it, but they will put mayo on ice cream if you let them. To me it tastes like a raw potato. A major food for Indians, huaqueros says, ¨To find huacas, find pejibayes."

Entretenido hilo:
algunos aportes, aunque sólo conozco las versiones chilenas y españolas:

beetroot: betarraga
sugar beet: remolacha
En España se usa remolacha para ambas variedades

pineapple: piña en Chile, ananá en España

Zucchini: zapallito italiano en Chile, calabacín en España

Sweetpotato: camote en Chile... no sé si en España lo conocen

(en inglés no sé) Castañas de cajú en Chile, anacardos en España

sponge cake: queque en Chile, bizcocho en españa

... y ya se me ocurrirán otros más

Saludos

SandraT mentioned "americano" for coffee. In Costa Rica, "americano" is black coffee. Actually, most Americans put milk and sugar in their coffee.

"Chorizo" here is a type of sausage (not the same as chorizo argentino), but... it also means "bribe", and a "choricero" is a corrupt person who accepts bribes.

"Cas" is a fruit about the size of a tennis ball. It makes a wonderful lemonade-like drink. I have not found it elsewhere, but Colombians have talked about a fruit that may be a "cas" under another name. They call our "pejibaye" a "chontaduro". Same fruit, different name.

"Guineos" and "chanchos" are small bananas. The "banano dátil" is larger and sweeter.

"Gallo pinto" is red beans and rice. It is a little drier than the "gallo pinto" of Nicaragua. It tastes great, but it's not as good as the Cuban "moros y cristianos". I've never found beans as good as those of Cuba and Brazil.

I do not know if the "manzana de agua" exists outside Costa Rica. It has a nice flavor, and it's smaller than the standard apple.

In Bolivia there are about 200 varieties of potatoes. Some are as small as grapes.

Writing this has made me hungry, so I am going to the "Aquí es Colombia" restaurant for a "bandeja paisa". (paisa = someone from the Medellín area / "bandeja paisa" is more or less the national plate of Colombia and includes rice, arepas, chicharrón, beans, avocado, ground beef, etc.)