But English, Turkish, Hindi, and French aren’t the only languages with geographical confusion over the origin of this gobbling bird. Irish and Welsh call it after Turkey, but that’s probably just borrowing via English. Armenian, Hebrew, Italian, Polish, and Russian also refer to it as some sort of Indian bird, while Dutch, Indonesian, Icelandic, and Lithuanian get slightly more specific with their inaccurate Indian geographical references and call it a bird of Calicut. Khmer and Scottish Gaelic, on the other hand, call it a French chicken, Malay calls it a Dutch chicken, and various dialects of Arabic refer to it as a Roman, Greek, or Ethiopian chicken. The most sensible of the geographically confused names are the languages that name it after Peru, including Croatian, Hawaiian, and Portuguese. I mean, at least Peru is on the right continental landmass, even if it’s home to the Incas while it was the Aztecs who domesticated the turkey.
The explanation ive heard as to why its called a turkey in English is cause the Turks took a liking to it early on and the association just kinda stuck.
Little known fact, hamburgers are served with a slice of ham 🙂
Mmmmm, steamed hams!
Steamed clams?
They started life as the hamburg steak, which was brought to the US by Germans.
So basically Americans or even German American immigrants went "this would be better as a sandwhich" and it stuck.
Disappointed that it’s not a type of burger made of ham tbh
German chocolate cake is not German. It was originally called German's chocolate cake, as it was invented by a person with the last name German.
The "french" in French fries refers to the style of cut that the potatoes are in. Hence why you just call curly fries, curly fries, and not curly French fries.
It what made freedom fries doubly absurd. Not even close to the freedom cut.
I assume it has to do with the part that says that its place of origin is Great Britain.
That's true though. In India it's butter chicken, and they made a slightly different version of it in the UK called chicken Tikka Masada, and they make a butter chicken there which is a sweet version of the OG butter chicken.
IIRC the sauce was invented in San Francisco, as were fortune cookies.
Except it's more generally accepted that it's from New York, and not San Fran.
Where did you ever find information tracing it to San fransisco?
I don't remember, I just remembered reading that both of those were made by some Chinese immigrant that started a "Chinese food" shop in San Francisco, some time in the 1930s or so. Seemed believable since there were a lot of Chinese immigrants in California as early as the 1850s cause of the railroad
I wonder if you were thinking of chop suey, which has one of its origin stories being from San Francisco?
No. Chop Suey was invented when someone grabbed a brush and put a little makeup.
That seems possible
Fortune cookies were originally Japanese, but when the Japanese were sent to the internment camps, the Chinese opportunistically began serving them in their restaurants on the West Coast
Yeah....that Chinese immigrant started it in New York city, though. Not San fransisco.
Yea, Singapore noodles are from Hong Kong and Tikka Masala is from the UK of all places.
My favourite weird food thing is that Japanese curry is a reinterpretation of UK curry which is in turn a reinterpretation of Indian curries.
I love the circuitous route it took to hop north east a ways, and how distinct it is due to this.
It's also the absolute fucking best
I don't like to get entangled with some food debate but I thought the common knowledge was that tikka masala is from Punjab. The restaurant owner who claimed to have 'invented' tikka masala using canned soup confessed they had spun up a story to entertain journalists.
Could entirely be. I just remember seeing the UK as a country of origin when looking for a slow cooking Tikka masala recipe and being disgusted with myself for enjoying English cuisine. Like there was no warning, no beans involved or anything.
It's a great example of the English appropriating another cultures cuisine because theirs is, well, a bit shit.
Belgium and Northern France have Filet Américain (American Filet). So an American dish right? Well no, it's raw ground beef, basically the last thing most Americans will ever willingly eat. Here it's basically the default sandwich topping.
how does one safely prepare raw ground beef?
By grinding it fresh under controlled conditions
Though according to experts, there's still a health risk, like raw egg.
Fascinating, thank yoh for explaining
The same way you safely prepare steak tartare?
italians and other europoors eat completely raw or undercooked meats every now and then, including raw chicken and raw pork.
plenty of european cultural dishes would be highly illegal to serve here in the US of A (and i am glad for that)
I never heard of raw chicken or raw pork. Seasoned pork (dry cured smoked salami) yes, but that's wouldn't classify as raw.
It's crazy to me that they felt the need to include safety instructions lol. Handmade Filet Américain for sure I'd eat same-day or at most next day, but the store-bought variety uses preservatives and can last for 3 days in the fridge no problem.
Americans be acting like beef is like fugu or something, but if fresh raw beef gives you E. Coli you need to be suing people! My understanding is this pathological phobia of raw meat goes back to the mid-20th century where long supply chains and untrustworthy cold chains led to the advice that all meat had to be done well, but that's outdated advice that would not develop nowadays. Red meat just can't go bad that fast at 4°C, so if the supplier is trusrworthy there's no issue.
Brits have kind of the same thing with electrical plugs in bathrooms, they're scared to death of them and you can't convince them it's safe and that the rest of the world does it just fine. Interesting how there are these localized "fear islands" around certain topics that people take for granted.
As far as I understand it, there is actually a feedback loop as well: the beef is treated with chemicals that kill all bacteria, even the neutral ones, leaving an otherwise open breeding ground for unsafe ones to thrive.
Guess what americans call fries? :)
Freedom fries
I mean, they're close enough to French. As a Belgian, it pains me to admit that they probably originated in Paris anyway, though we perfected the recipe (and they're called French fries in American English for a different reason).
Pomme frites
In Japan they don't have cormeal as part of the diet, so a corn dog would've been a confusing name. They ended up calling it an American dog.
Taiwan has created so many incredible foods and drinks I gotta say.
"Damn mongorians."
Keep ruining the shitty wok
Im living in Germany.
We say "Wiener Würstchen" to some sausages. Wien = Vienna
In Vienna/Austria they say "Frankfurter" to the same sausages. Frankfurt is a City in Germany.
They played us for absolute fools
for absolute foods
They just call it beef there. Kind of like how the French call toasted bread "le pain internationale" and French toast is just toast.
French toast is “pain d’ici”
That took me a second to click in for some reason lol.
Is this a Quebec thing ? I have never ever heard anyone say "le pain international" in my entire life as a French man, sacre blue !
Toast bread = pain de mie
French toast = pain perdu
It was a joke.
I am actually half French Canadian but my dad had us raised English only, and now I'm trying to relearn it.
It sucked going to my grandfather's funeral and the extended family thought I was my cousin's friend because I didn't speak French.
It made me angry. This is the sign of an excellent joke. Bien joué l'ami ! (l'ami, la mie, pun intended :))
Also:
Wtf, it's not from Gingeria?
Is that in Ireland?
Scotland, I believe.
What? Next thing you're gonna tell me is that sex on the beach doesn't involve any sand!
Taiwan real Mongolia?
Big if true
Taiwan #1 Mongolia
Australian Shepherds are actually from the American West.
Gobi manchurian was made by Cantonese merchants in Kolkata.
Bird named Turkey:
The Portuguese word for turkey 🦃 is Peru
Wait until you find out about what Beaver Tails are made of
When Orientals Orientalize
Those mfs lied to us
Danishes are called Wienerbrød in Denmark.
PENIS BREAD???
They eat some fancy bread in Vienna I guess.
Singapore noodles probably aren't from Singapore either.
French Fries are from Belgium English muffins are invented in the USA Singaporean Noodles are invented in Hong Kong
Wuhan virus? Most likely from Wuhan.
Hamburgers are also American despite being named after a place in Germany
Cheeseburgers are named after the German city of Cheeseburg.
Oh? I thought it was from Cheesebaden.
Big Macs are named after Bernie "Big" Mac
Hawaiian pizza was not invented in Hawaii, but Canada.
Also Turkey (the bird) has to be the most hilariously named bird. Different languages attribute the bird to a different location.
https://slate.com/human-interest/2014/11/turkey-in-turkish-and-other-geographically-implausible-names-for-this-bird.html
Snippet:
Fun!
Nobody wants to take responsibility for this bird
I don’t blame them
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/01/26/minnesota-wild-turkey-attacks/
https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/pittsburgh/news/turkeys-terrorizing-residents-north-side-pittsburgh/
One year later in pittsburgh
https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/wild-turkeys-attack-vehicles-people-pittsburgh-neighborhood/SCGD7WRXRNFCFHRUVBZ42AAKKA/?outputType=amp
The explanation ive heard as to why its called a turkey in English is cause the Turks took a liking to it early on and the association just kinda stuck.
Little known fact, hamburgers are served with a slice of ham 🙂
Mmmmm, steamed hams!
Steamed clams?
They started life as the hamburg steak, which was brought to the US by Germans.
So basically Americans or even German American immigrants went "this would be better as a sandwhich" and it stuck.
Disappointed that it’s not a type of burger made of ham tbh
German chocolate cake is not German. It was originally called German's chocolate cake, as it was invented by a person with the last name German.
The "french" in French fries refers to the style of cut that the potatoes are in. Hence why you just call curly fries, curly fries, and not curly French fries.
It what made freedom fries doubly absurd. Not even close to the freedom cut.
I like my fries uncircumcised
Not to mention Chicken Tikka Masala.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken_tikka_masala
What part is a lie though?
I assume it has to do with the part that says that its place of origin is Great Britain.
That's true though. In India it's butter chicken, and they made a slightly different version of it in the UK called chicken Tikka Masada, and they make a butter chicken there which is a sweet version of the OG butter chicken.
Hawaiian pizza is from Canada.
By a greek in Canada inspired by chinese dishes. Truly mr worldwide food.
@OutlierBlue @sjmarf its inventor was also of Greek descent
I knew I hated them for a reason
German Chocolate Cake is from Pennsylvania or New York. It's definitely American. The guy's last name was German.
Considering the Amish proficiency for baked goods, I'd imagine it's from Pennsylvania, and actually German.
But just like whoopie pies it's an American invention.
No literally it was the brand name of the chocolate which was sold by a guy named German. Nothing to do with the country at all
It was actually Texas.
My entire life has been a lie
General Tso never even tried his sauce.
General Tso died in 1885, yet General Tso's Chicken is invented around 1970. They are almost 100 years apart.
IIRC the sauce was invented in San Francisco, as were fortune cookies.
Except it's more generally accepted that it's from New York, and not San Fran.
Where did you ever find information tracing it to San fransisco?
I don't remember, I just remembered reading that both of those were made by some Chinese immigrant that started a "Chinese food" shop in San Francisco, some time in the 1930s or so. Seemed believable since there were a lot of Chinese immigrants in California as early as the 1850s cause of the railroad
I wonder if you were thinking of chop suey, which has one of its origin stories being from San Francisco?
No. Chop Suey was invented when someone grabbed a brush and put a little makeup.
That seems possible
Fortune cookies were originally Japanese, but when the Japanese were sent to the internment camps, the Chinese opportunistically began serving them in their restaurants on the West Coast
Yeah....that Chinese immigrant started it in New York city, though. Not San fransisco.
Yea, Singapore noodles are from Hong Kong and Tikka Masala is from the UK of all places.
My favourite weird food thing is that Japanese curry is a reinterpretation of UK curry which is in turn a reinterpretation of Indian curries.
I love the circuitous route it took to hop north east a ways, and how distinct it is due to this.
It's also the absolute fucking best
I don't like to get entangled with some food debate but I thought the common knowledge was that tikka masala is from Punjab. The restaurant owner who claimed to have 'invented' tikka masala using canned soup confessed they had spun up a story to entertain journalists.
Could entirely be. I just remember seeing the UK as a country of origin when looking for a slow cooking Tikka masala recipe and being disgusted with myself for enjoying English cuisine. Like there was no warning, no beans involved or anything.
It's a great example of the English appropriating another cultures cuisine because theirs is, well, a bit shit.
Belgium and Northern France have Filet Américain (American Filet). So an American dish right? Well no, it's raw ground beef, basically the last thing most Americans will ever willingly eat. Here it's basically the default sandwich topping.
how does one safely prepare raw ground beef?
By grinding it fresh under controlled conditions
Though according to experts, there's still a health risk, like raw egg.
Fascinating, thank yoh for explaining
The same way you safely prepare steak tartare?
italians and other europoors eat completely raw or undercooked meats every now and then, including raw chicken and raw pork.
plenty of european cultural dishes would be highly illegal to serve here in the US of A (and i am glad for that)
I never heard of raw chicken or raw pork. Seasoned pork (dry cured smoked salami) yes, but that's wouldn't classify as raw.
Let me introduce you to Mett
the lebanese deli i go to has raw kibbi, and it must be spiced with crack because everytime i get it i cant stop thinking about it for weeks
actually...
It's crazy to me that they felt the need to include safety instructions lol. Handmade Filet Américain for sure I'd eat same-day or at most next day, but the store-bought variety uses preservatives and can last for 3 days in the fridge no problem.
Americans be acting like beef is like fugu or something, but if fresh raw beef gives you E. Coli you need to be suing people! My understanding is this pathological phobia of raw meat goes back to the mid-20th century where long supply chains and untrustworthy cold chains led to the advice that all meat had to be done well, but that's outdated advice that would not develop nowadays. Red meat just can't go bad that fast at 4°C, so if the supplier is trusrworthy there's no issue.
Brits have kind of the same thing with electrical plugs in bathrooms, they're scared to death of them and you can't convince them it's safe and that the rest of the world does it just fine. Interesting how there are these localized "fear islands" around certain topics that people take for granted.
As far as I understand it, there is actually a feedback loop as well: the beef is treated with chemicals that kill all bacteria, even the neutral ones, leaving an otherwise open breeding ground for unsafe ones to thrive.
Guess what americans call fries? :)
Freedom fries
I mean, they're close enough to French. As a Belgian, it pains me to admit that they probably originated in Paris anyway, though we perfected the recipe (and they're called French fries in American English for a different reason).
Pomme frites
In Japan they don't have cormeal as part of the diet, so a corn dog would've been a confusing name. They ended up calling it an American dog.
Taiwan has created so many incredible foods and drinks I gotta say.
"Damn mongorians."
Keep ruining the shitty wok
Im living in Germany. We say "Wiener Würstchen" to some sausages. Wien = Vienna In Vienna/Austria they say "Frankfurter" to the same sausages. Frankfurt is a City in Germany.
They played us for absolute fools
for absolute foods
They just call it beef there. Kind of like how the French call toasted bread "le pain internationale" and French toast is just toast.
French toast is “pain d’ici”
That took me a second to click in for some reason lol.
Is this a Quebec thing ? I have never ever heard anyone say "le pain international" in my entire life as a French man, sacre blue !
Toast bread = pain de mie
French toast = pain perdu
It was a joke.
I am actually half French Canadian but my dad had us raised English only, and now I'm trying to relearn it.
It sucked going to my grandfather's funeral and the extended family thought I was my cousin's friend because I didn't speak French.
It made me angry. This is the sign of an excellent joke. Bien joué l'ami ! (l'ami, la mie, pun intended :))
Also:
Wtf, it's not from Gingeria?
Is that in Ireland?
Scotland, I believe.
What? Next thing you're gonna tell me is that sex on the beach doesn't involve any sand!
Taiwan real Mongolia?
Big if true
Taiwan #1 Mongolia
Australian Shepherds are actually from the American West.
Gobi manchurian was made by Cantonese merchants in Kolkata.
Bird named Turkey:
The Portuguese word for turkey 🦃 is Peru
Wait until you find out about what Beaver Tails are made of
When Orientals Orientalize
Those mfs lied to us
Danishes are called Wienerbrød in Denmark.
PENIS BREAD???
They eat some fancy bread in Vienna I guess.
Singapore noodles probably aren't from Singapore either.