Apart from the mini arrival guide in my sign-up giveaway, here is my own English to French Food dictionary. I will add to this as necessary along the way.
The little book The A-Z of French Food I bought ages ago helped me loads. However the price has now skyrocketed. There is a 1988 cheaper version which I cannot vouch for as I have the 2014 version.
Also, I am a big fan of Clothilde Dusoulier’s blog Chocolate & Zucchini and she does a formidable French to English food dictionary, which also was a big help. https://cnz.to/french-english-food-glossary/
However, both the above are French to English, so you can see why I needed to start my own English to French one, to help me get going until I remembered my French food words. Also this is not alphabetical, but in food groups as this also helped me find them faster. I also duplicate some as needs be for easier usage.
Household:
Bathroom soap – savon de marseilles either scented lavender of orange flower or olive oil – liquid or soap bars.
Washing powder – Savon de Marseilles lessive poudre
Dish washer liquid – Vaiselle Mains Menthe & Basilic is nice
Dishwasher tabs – Tablettes pour lave-vaisselle
Bin bags – sacs poubelles 50L usual villa size
Bbq charcoal – charbon de bois
Breakfast:
Coffee – cafe Malongo is a good one (beans, ground)
Tea/teabags – thé, sachets de thé
Drinking chocolate – chocolat à boire
Sugar -sucre
Honey – miel
Milk – lait entier usually with a red top. My fave supermarket brand is Tapy. Alternatives are widely available. Cream – crème fleurette
Creme fresh – crème fraîche
Butter – beurre Le Gall cru/unpasteurised or President pasteurised
Jam – confiture loads of unusual ones to try
Cereals – céréales
Eggs – oeufs
Cheese – fromage cheddar now available but have fun trying all the different kinds
Juice – jus Easily recognisable
Water – eau plat is regular/eau gazeuse/pétillanteBread – pain
Biscuits – biscuit
Bread – pain baguette or loaves – ‘en tranches s’il vous plaît’ will get you sliced loaves
Sourdough – au levain
Dairy:
Milk:
Whole milk – Lait entier usually with a red top. My fave supermarket brand is Tapy.
Low fat milk –
Buttermilk – lait ribot or lait fermente If you only need a bit you can make an easy substitute. Mix 1 tablespoon of vinegar (either cider or white plain vinegar or lemon juice with 1 cup of whole (entiere) milk. Leave for 10 minutes or so to do its thing. Many people buy this in error and this in tea or coffee is not good.
Almond milk – lait d’amande
Oat milk – lait d’avoine
Coconut milk – lait de coco
Whole food shops – magasin bios will have all the above, however supermarkets also stock Bio/organic products.
Cream:
Sour Cream -The French do not have Sour Cream but closest substitute would be the full fat fromage blanc.
Crème Fraîche – usually around 30% fat and somewhat richer than forage blanc.
Bridélice – a low fat dairy called crème légere, as in light cream with a 15% fat content. You could also try this perhaps for US UK style sour cream.
Smetana – another type of sour cream you may also come across.
It’s all a trade-off so find one you personally prefer the taste and consistency of.
Heavy cream or Double Cream as in the UK is crème liquide/fluide or crème entiere and widely available. However to me that is not like a true UK double cream, but more of a single cream. Look out for entière for 30% or so fat percentage. I usually whip the entière and then add some thicker crème fraîche for a stiffer cream with a nice tang to it.
A lot of heavy cream in France is sterilised (look out for the UHT label) so good luck with the whipping!
I dream of the Parisian stores I hear of that sell fresh, raw heavy cream and crème fraîche . . . just not in Provence.
Butter – Le Gall unpasteurised unsalted or salted – with salt crystals or President pasteurised.
Bread – Le Pain
Bagel – le bagel
Baguette – Baguette however there are many types
Baguette Tradition – probably the most bought in France with a price set by the State.
Whole wheat -la farina complète
Complet – Cereal – mixed cereals – granary
Au Levain – Sourdough my favourite
A very thin baguette – le ficelle
Chocolate croissant – le pain au chocolat
Corn Bread – le pain de maïs (pronounced maaeese)
Pita Bread – le pita
Raisin Bread – le pain aux raisins secs
Rye Bread – le pain de seigle
Seeded bread – le pain aux graines
Slice of bread – la tranche de pain – Trancher to slice – you will be asked if you want your bread sliced or not – le pain tranché (en tranches s’il vous plâit)
Sourdough Bread – le pain au levain
Toast – le pain grillé or may be called a tartine
White bread – le pain blanc
Brioche – brioche
Sandwich bread – pain de mie (lighter version of brioche and delicious)
Condiments:
Salt – sel
Pepper – poivre
Vinegar – vinaigre Apple Cider/de cidre – Rice/de riz – Tarragon/a l’estragon – Balsamic/balsamique
Olive oil – huile d’olive or extra virgin huile d’olive extra vierge
Sesame oil – huile de sésame
Sunflower oil – huile de tournesol
Grape seed oil – huile de pépins de raisin
Avocado oil – huile d’avocat
Mustard – moutarde de Dijon fort is strong – with seeds ancien easy to recognise if you prefer
Tomato ketchup – ketchup de tomates
Mayonnaise – mayonnaise (see easy stick blender recipe)
Soy sauce – sauce soja
Worcestershire sauce – sauce worcestershire
Spices:
Most recognisable through the glass bottles or packets but some with other names altogether that stumped me for a bit!
Allspice – piment de Jamaïque
Cloves – clous de girofle
Five star/star anise – Badiane
Juniper – genévrier
Nutmeg – noir de muscade
Pepper – poivron
Za’atar – same word in French
Quatre épices – a spice the French use frequently – a blend of white pepper, cloves, nutmeg and dried ginger
Red pepper flakes – flocons de piment rouge
Sugars:
Natural unrefined brown cane sugar – sucre cassonade (both light ‘cuivrée’ or dark ‘ambrée’ for the cassonade.
Sucre vergeoise which is beet sugar sprayed with caramel and to look like the cane sugar.
Coconut sugar – sucre de coco
Muscavado sugar – mascobado Sucre de canne complet
Fine granulated -sucre extra fin à pâtisser
Free flowing type sugar called ‘poudre’ – This is NOT icing sugar!
Between the cane and the beet, my preference is for the real cane sugar in light or dark varieties.
Molasses – mélasse however it seems stronger in flavour to the UK one, as it is unrefined. You may prefer to mix a little mild-flavoured honey in if too strong for you.
Treacle – as used in the UK you may find on UK sections of some large supermarkets.
Sweeteners – branded easily recognisable near sugars
Maple syrup – sirop d’érable
Agave syrup – sirop d’agave
Non-sugar sweeteners – Usually same names globally
Canned/Bottled/Packet:
Anchovies – anchois (bottles in oil or with salt) near the smoked fish
Corn – maïs Only seen in canned and rarely as fresh corn on the cob sadly
Crab – crabe
Tinned tomatoes – tomates en boîte
Sardines – sardines
Mackerel – maquereau
Tuna – thon (I prefer the whole pieces to the small bits)
Flour – Farine:
Usual types including some interesting ones like chestnut/chataigne and buckwheat
T45 and T55 is more like cake flours as it is milled very finely with not much gluten strength. I find my cakes come out far too crumbly when I only have these ones to use
T65 I always prefer this one especially an organic one from a good flour mill
T80 Is a lighter type pastry whole wheat flour
T110 is a regular whole wheat flour
For general use aT 65 will be closest to a UK or US all purpose type flour.
Yeast – la levure
Baking powder – levure chimique
Cream of tartar – crème de tartre
Buckwheat flour – farine de sarrasin
Rye flour – farine de seigle
Spelt flour – la farine d’épeautre
Einkorn flour -la farine petit épeautre
White flour – la farine blanche
Wheat bread – pain de blé
Polenta – polenta fine milled corn
Carbs:
Rice – riz
Pasta – pâtes
Couscous – couscous
Bulgur – boulgour
Quinoa – quinoa
Proteins:
Beef – boeuf
Steak – le steak
Beef stew – ragoût de boeuf, daube, boeuf bourguignon – I prefer to buy jarret or paleron as the ready cut bourguignon sold can sometimes be not so tender
Ground beef – la viande hachée
Hamburgers – hamburger de boeuf Instore butchers will grind fresh meat to order for you, serving you perfect shaped burgers ready to grill, just let them know how many you require
Roast beef – rôti de boeuf
Rib of beef – côte de boeuf
Chicken – poulet – chicken breast is poulet ‘blanc’
Ham – jambon
Lamb – agneau
Pork – porc
Pork belly – poitrine de porc
Turkey – dinde
veal – veau
Chop – côtelette
Fish & Seafood:
Fish – le poisson
Seafood – le fruit de mer
Platter of mixed sea food – plateau de fruits de mer
Anchovies – les anchois
Cod – cabillaud – la morue
Clam – le clam
Crab – le crabe
Crayfish – l’écrevisse
Cuttlefish – la seiche
Haddock – l’aiglefin
Halibut – le flétin
Lemon Sole – la limande-sole
Lobster – le homard (silent d) NOT l’homard!!!
Mackerel – le maquereau
Monkfish – la lotte
Mussel – la moulle
Octopus – la pieuvre
Oyster – l’huître and as always I need more than one so les huîtres
Prawn/Shrimp – la crevette
Salmon – le saumon
Salted cod – morue salée
Sardine – la sardine
Scallop – la coquille Saint-Jacques
Sea bass – le bar
Sea Bream – la daurade
Sea urchin – oursin
Skate – la raie
Sole – le sole
Squid – le calmar also encornets
Swordfish – l’espadon
Trout – le truite
Tuna fish – le thon
Whiting – le merlan
Violet – violet – only seen it here once . . . it is a violet colour (see photo) similar taste to a sea urchin
