The food words you can't pronounce
Tzatziki, quesadillas, quinoa, nicoise and hoisin. five of the most commonly misprounounced foodie words, apparently. What do you struggle with?
“I’ll have the number 42”
According to a survey commissioned by GLORIOUS! Foods, one in five people order food in a restaurant that they don’t particular want, simply because they know how to say it. And more than a quarter said that they refer to the ‘number’ of a dish on a menu (like you would in Wagamama) to avoid looking stupid and pronouncing it incorrectly.
Nearly two thirds of those studied said that they found many foods hard to pronounce and 14% said they have been intimidated by a waiter in a posh restaurant because they were nervous about ordering.
And apparently the cuisine we struggle most with is Japanese, followed by French and Chinese. One in twenty Brits even struggle to say blancmange correctly, not grasping the phonetic sound which is “bler-monj”.
From Dauphinois to escargot
Embarrassing clangers include pronouncing the silent ‘g’ in ‘gnocchi’, and struggling to say ‘nicoise’ correctly. The common mistake is to order a “nick-oi-see” rather than a “nee-swaz”.
Other regular stumbling blocks include getting the tongue around ‘quesadillas’, ‘ciabatta’, ‘Dauphinois’ and ‘haloumi’… the top 10 mispronounced foodie words are in the table below – we’ve included the correct pronunciation, so that you don’t slip up again.
Word Wrong Right
| 1. Tzatziki | tee-zat-zee-ki-ki | zat-zee-key |
| 2. Quesadillas | kwee saddy lass | case-ah-dee-yahs |
| 3. Prosciutto | pros-kee-oo-toe | pro-shoo-toe |
| 4. Quinoa | kwin-oh-ah | keen-wah |
| 5. Amuse bouche | ahh-mooz-booch-ee | a-moose boosh |
| 6. Nicoise | nick-oi-see | nee-swaz |
| 7. Moules Mariniere | moo les marry nary | mools mar-in-year |
| 8. Dauphinois | dolf-in-ee-waz | doh-fin-wa |
| 9. Penne arabiata | penny-arry-batty | pen-A arr-ah-bee-ah-tah |
| 10. Haloumi | halli-oh-mi | hal-ooh-me |
Commenting on the results, spokesperson for GLORIOUS! Foods Afruj Miah said: “To give a helping hand with more exotic ingredients, we are considering adding a phonetic pronunciation guide on our food packaging so those people wanting to try Gjetost, Ras el hanout and Xo sauce can do so without being left red faced.”
Which foodie words do you have trouble with? Have you ever avoided ordering something because you didn’t know how to pronounce it? Talk to us in the comments box below…
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