Translating Paleo Cooking Terms-min

Translating Paleo Cooking Terms

The first time I went to America, I was confused. The restaurant menus all had pages of entrée’s, but no main courses. Fortunately before too long, I realised entrée is American for main course, not a starter course, as I am used to the word. I was also excited to try a new herb I had read about in lots of cooking blogs, cilantro – before I found out it is just another was of describing coriander.

As a Brit, living in Australia, reading lots of American Paleo Diet blogs and books, I've noticed a lot of cooking and food terms with completely different names. Australian terms seem to be mainly British, but often American – and sometimes different again. The list below shows the most common terms on which our terms differ, not all Paleo related, but hopefully useful all the same:

American British English Australian
Appetizer Starter Starter
Entrée Main Course Main Course
Dessert Pudding/ Sweet/ Afters Dessert
Broiler Grill Grill
Grilling Barbecuing Barbecuing
Canned Tinned Tinned
Eggplant Aubergine Eggplant
Zucchini Courgette Zucchini
Argula Rocket Rocket
Rutbaga Swede/ Turnip Swede
Bell Pepper Pepper Capsicum
Cilantro Coriander Coriander
Ground Mince Minced Meat Minced Meat
Pork Rinds Pork Scratchings Crackling
Jello Jelly Jam
Fries Chips Hot Chips
Chips Crisps Chips
Parchment Paper Greaseproof Paper Greaseproof Paper
Stove Hob Hob
Crock Pot Slow Cooker Slow Cooker
Plastic Wrap Clingfilm Gladwrap
Candy Sweets Lollies
Licquor Store Off Licence Bottle Shop (AKA Bottlo!)
Popsicle Ice Lolly Ice Lolly

Of course, in addition to the different terms, American recipes use imperial measurements (pounds, ounces, tablespoons and Fahrenheit), Australian recipes are metric (grams, millilitres and centigrade) and British recipes never quite seem to be able to decide if they should embrace the metric system, or stick to the traditional imperial measurements.

I'm sure there are many more, so please share the terms that have confused you, or that you have recently discovered, in the comments below. And if you’re in New Zealand – which versions of the terms do you use, mainly Australian, or a completely different term?

Translating Paleo Cooking Terms-min

Paleo Cookbooks cavemanfeast paleo-recipe-book
3 replies
  1. David Wright
    David Wright says:

    I have to correct you on a couple of things.
    Jello in the USA is Jelly here. Jelly in the USA is jam here.
    An appetizer in the USA is usually called an entree or starter here.
    Aussies are pretty clued-in and would understand most of these terms. I lived in Canada for 6 months this year and had trouble with ‘broil’ and ‘cilantro’ and even at the end of my time I could not get used to the whole appetizer/entree thing.
    Thanks for clearing up what a rutabaga is!

    Reply
  2. Renee
    Renee says:

    A couple more corrections….

    Stove in the USA is also Stove in Australia
    Popsicle in the USA is usually an icey-pole in Australia

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Want to join the discussion?
Feel free to contribute!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.