Food Talk!

After four weeks of going to a food writing course, thinking about food and writing about food, I found myself getting caught in this web of food talking. It was my way of getting back at food, for not exciting me as much as it seemed to excite others. Little did I know, it was getting back at me! I had started skating in the mayonnaise, or going nowhere, according to the French idiom ‘patinant dans la mayonnaise.’

Food talking in a nutshell, was a hard nut to crack*. I went bananas* while trying to figure out some idioms and metaphors while many others cracked me up! ‘What the Huck,’ I remembered. Swimming in chocolate or bicycling in yogurt sounded like fun even if the French said it would get me nowhere! And this was the beginning, of my husband being subject to conversations ending with ‘cook yourself an egg,’ for a long time, before he found this French idiom meant ‘go to hell.’

In my quest for appetizers to gratify this new found hunger for food images, I was overwhelmed by the four course phraseology meals served by numerous cultures across the world, in different languages. I do not want to over egg the pudding* by presenting a platter of innumerable exotic mouthfuls. Instead, I've picked the cream of the crop* in the list that follows, to whet your appetite*!

Not for all the tea in China!

Literally meaning ‘for nothing in the world’ or ‘at no cost,’ this phrase has been declared to be of Australian origin by the Oxford English Dictionary. It originated in the early 20th century and can be traced to J. J. Mann's travelogue Round the world in a motor car, 1914. Obviously this reference is to the fact that China is one of the biggest producers of tea in the world and anybody who is not willing to trade for all the tea in China is very determined not to change his mind.

I’ve got bigger fish to fry

Widely used in both Irish and British culture, this phrase means that there are more important (bigger) things that a person has to do when compared to what is being done at present. The first known reference of this idiom in writing was in a book called The Memoirs, written by English writer and gardener John Evelyn in 1660.  

What would a monkey know about the taste of ginger?

A very popular saying in the northern regions of India, ‘bandar kya jaane adrak ka swaad’ is an insulting phrase which suggests that an opinion expressed by someone else does not have credit, due to their lack of knowledge/taste about the subject at hand.

Have tomatoes on the eyes

The German expression ‘Tomaten auf den Augen haben’ is an idiom which means ‘you must be blind.’ Tomatoes are referred to in this phrase due to their red color, which is also the color of the eyes of a person who is sleepy or too tired to notice what’s going on in their surroundings and therefore, ‘gone blind.’

Has the heart of an artichoke

A person who is said to have an artichoke heart is one who falls in love very frequently and easily. The definition resonates with the center of the artichoke which is called its heart and its many leaves which denote different love interests. The term was coined in the 19th century and is a translation of the French expression "Cœur d'artichaut."

Mutton dressed as lamb

This is an idiom referring to a woman who is dressed in a manner much younger than her age. It was a disparaging description and was first found in print in the gossip journal compiled by Mrs. Frances Calvert in 1811. The term was derived from the ‘dressing up’ or preparation of an item before it was cooked. Similarly, women in the 19th century were said to be ready for a romantic encounter when they dressed themselves up, often trying to appear younger than their age, mutton dressed as lamb.

The list of food related phrases is infinite and many of these have now become a part of speech of the common man and not just the grated cheese or ‘le gratin.’  Interestingly, food imagery has gone beyond phrases used in day to day life. It has been artfully used by Chinese philosophers to explain the creation of literature. They said “a writer’s ideas are like grains of uncooked rice. When the grains are boiled into porridge, that is prose; when they are fermented into wine, that is poetry.”*

Food imagery as I realize, has been used to describe and differentiate between anything from character to circumstance. Everything from soup to nuts* has made its way in this artful play of words, which seems to be as easy as apple pie.* As George Eliot said, “metaphors steer our attention and we act on the strength of them.” Food imagery seems to do much more than that. It creates legacies that define every generation!

Meanings of imagery used:

Skating in the mayonnaise, swimming in chocolate, bicycling in yogurt - going nowhere

In a nutshell - Briefly, in a few words

Hard nut to crack - a difficult person or thing to deal with or get to know

To go bananas - to become highly excited, to behave in a crazy way

Over egg the pudding - To exaggerate or to ruin something by trying too hard to improve it.

The cream of the crop - the best of a group, the top choice

Whet your appetite -To have your interest in something, especially food, stimulated.

Grated cheese – the elite

Everything from soup to nuts - almost everything that one can think of

As easy as pie - very easy

** Food in Chinese Culture: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives - K.C. Chang