{"id":547,"date":"2021-02-17T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-16T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nativeintonation.com\/?p=547"},"modified":"2021-02-16T20:19:55","modified_gmt":"2021-02-16T11:19:55","slug":"american-vs-british-english-vocabulary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nativeintonation.com\/american-vs-british-english-vocabulary\/","title":{"rendered":"American vs British English: Food and Cooking Vocabulary"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While we speak the same language in the United Kingdom and the United States, there are huge variations in accent, grammatical usage, spelling, and vocabulary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this post, we\u2019ll look at some examples of vocabulary related to food and cooking which is different in the UK and the US and which can cause confusion.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s start with food.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

American vs British English: Food<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
\n
  • UK: aubergine<\/em>
    <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>
  • US: eggplant<\/em>
    <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
    \n

    <\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    That\u2019s the large purple vegetable, delicious when roasted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • UK: courgette<\/em>
      <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>
    • US: zucchini<\/em>
      <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      This is a dark green vegetable which looks like a cucumber.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      • UK: beetroot<\/em>
        <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>
      • US: beet<\/em>
        <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

        This is a red\/purple vegetable you often eat in salad. Anything it touches also turns purple. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

        • UK: coriander<\/em>
          <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>
        • US: cilantro <\/em>
          <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

          This is a green herb which some people claim tastes like soap. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

          • UK: chickpeas<\/em>
            <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>
          • US: garbanzo beans <\/em>
            <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

            Chickpeas <\/em>and garbanzo beans<\/em> are the same. They are ingredient used for making hummus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            • UK: fish fingers<\/em>
              <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>
            • US: fish sticks<\/em>
              <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

              Fish covered in breadcrumbs in a rectangular shape are known as fish fingers<\/em> in the UK. In the US, they\u2019re known as fish sticks. <\/em>Children quite often ask \u201cwhy are they called fish fingers?\u201d so perhaps fish sticks<\/em> actually makes more sense here!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

              • UK: chips <\/em>
                <\/div><\/div><\/div> <\/li>
              • US: fries<\/em>
                <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                The UK\u2019s most famous dish is fish and chips. Chips<\/em> in the UK are hot potatoes fried in oil. In the US, this delicious form of potatoes is known as fries.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                • UK: crisps<\/em>
                  <\/div><\/div><\/div> <\/li>
                • US: chips <\/em>
                  <\/div><\/div><\/div> <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                  Chips <\/em>in the US are cold, often bought in a plastic packet and eaten as a snack or maybe with a dip. In the UK, we call these crisps<\/em>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                  • UK: biscuits <\/em>
                    <\/div><\/div><\/div> <\/li>
                  • US: cookies <\/em>
                    <\/div><\/div><\/div> <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                    Moving on to something sweet. Biscuits<\/em> in the UK are sweet and often eaten with a cup of tea. They\u2019re known as cookies<\/em> in the US. In the UK cookies<\/em> are a specific type of biscuit, and they have chocolate chips or chunks inside, whereas in the US a cookie<\/em> refers to any type of (British) biscuit. <\/em>A biscuit <\/em>in the US, however, is a savory item eaten with the main meal. So next time you hear somebody is eating \u201cbiscuits\u201d, make sure you know whether they\u2019re referring to British or American biscuits – they\u2019re very different things!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                    • UK: sweets<\/em>
                      <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>
                    • US: candy <\/em>
                      <\/div><\/div><\/div> <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                      In the US, candy<\/em> is used as a generic term for a sweet food made of chocolate, sugar or fruit. In the UK, we have chocolate <\/em>and sweets. <\/em>Chocolate bars aren\u2019t described as sweets<\/em> but they would be candy<\/em> in the US. Sweets,<\/em> in the UK, would be something like Haribo, or fruit-flavored hard \u2018candy\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      American vs British English: Cooking<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

                      Let\u2019s stay in the kitchen and have a look at some differences in vocabulary there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                      • UK: rubbish<\/em>
                        <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>
                      • US: trash <\/em>
                        <\/div><\/div><\/div> <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                        As well as trash<\/em>, in the US they use the word garbage.<\/em> Trash<\/em> refers to dry products, and garbage <\/em>to wet products and food waste. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                        You might have seen in many American movies they have a garbage disposal<\/em> in the sink to get rid of this waste. In the UK, we call this wet or food waste compost<\/em> and it is put in a special bin in the garden, later to be used as manure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                        • UK: bin<\/em>
                          <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>
                        • US: trash can<\/em>
                          <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                          Rubbish goes in the bin<\/em>, whereas trash goes in the trash can. Garbage<\/em> goes in the garbage disposal<\/em> and compost<\/em> goes in the compost bin<\/em> or food waste bin.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                          • UK: tea towel<\/em>
                            <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>
                          • US: dishtowel <\/em>
                            <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                            If you want to dry your dishes, then in the UK you\u2019d use a tea towel.<\/em> In the US, you\u2019d use a dishtowel.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                            • UK: tap<\/em>
                              <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li>
                            • US: faucet <\/em>
                              <\/div><\/div><\/div> <\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                              Before you can dry your dishes though, you need to wash them. In the UK you turn on the tap<\/em> to make the water come out, in the US you have to turn the faucet.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

                              • UK: tin<\/em>
                                <\/div><\/div><\/div> <\/li>
                              • US: can <\/em>
                                <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

                                Some food comes in metal containers, for example, beans. This is a tin<\/em> in the UK and a can <\/em>in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                So, next time you cook a meal or eat out with an English-speaking friend, listen out to whether they use British English or American English phrases. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                See if you can use some yourself! My advice would be to choose whether you want to learn British or American English and stick with one or the other. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                British people will generally understand you if you use American English vocabulary and slang thanks to the number of American films and TV series we have here. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

                                So good luck, and happy cooking!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                                Find out the food and cooking-related words used in the US and UK. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":552,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/nativeintonation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/freestocks-jUSu0686zDM-us-uk-600x400.jpg","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/nativeintonation.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/freestocks-jUSu0686zDM-us-uk-600x533.jpg","author_info":{"display_name":"Rose Lewis","author_link":"https:\/\/nativeintonation.com\/author\/rose-l\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nativeintonation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nativeintonation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nativeintonation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nativeintonation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nativeintonation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nativeintonation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nativeintonation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nativeintonation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nativeintonation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nativeintonation.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}