Articles and Stories

August 11, 2016

There are many words related to food in every language. There are some useful (and some not so useful) words, that don’t exist in English. In Japanese, for example, there’s a word that means eating yourself into bankruptcy, kuidaore. This word is closely related to a Georgian word, shemomedjamo, which means you keep eating, even though you’re full, because the food is so delicious. The word literally means ‘I accidentally ate the whole thing.’ I’m sure many people could use that word during Thanksgiving.
In Norwegian, pålegg is a non-specific descriptor for anything that might go on a sandwich, from ham and cheese to sardines, pickles, or even Nutella or jelly. Even though not necessarily related to food, the Swedish word lagom would come in handy. It means not too much and not too little, but just the right amount.
I have on occasion eaten leftovers for breakfast when I was in a rush or had nothing else available, but not often enough to give it a word. But if the host always offers an abundance of food for breakfast to show his or her hospitality, I guess a special word is in order. The Farsi language has such a special word for leftovers eaten for breakfast, it is called shitta.
In terms of drinking, a very specific Norwegian word is utepils, which means to sit outside on a sunny day, drinking beer. In Gaelic, sgriob refers to the itchiness on the upper lip just before taking a sip of whiskey. I can relate to that word, however I would prefer it to relate to coffee and not to whiskey.
In Spanish there is a word for the time spent at the table continuing a conversation even though the meal is gone. When you are so full that you do not want to move or just treasure the company and conversation. That word is sobremesa, which means ‘over the table.’
If you gain weight due to emotional overeating, it’s called Kummerspeck in German. It literally means ‘grief bacon.’ Picture the crying women in movies eating ice cream out of the original container.., that is when you gain ‘Kummerspeck.’