Coming To Amreeka…

Unlike the political refugees, religiously exiled, those who escaped from the deadly epidemic or bloodthirsty dictators, jumped the fences…we, the most Indian immigrants story are the same…came to America as a student, seeking job opportunity in various sectors, spouse visas, business travelers and the tourists. Thanks to all those minted degrees. We speak better English and get away with our accent most of the time. Indian children always win the spell-bee competition! In my opinion, our written English is flawless when compared to average American writing skills! The long colonial rule has made us to adapt to English as our official language. In fact, English is our common lingua franca between ourselves as we all speak diverse mother tongues.

However, we neither speak British English (as most people think) nor American English! We have our own accent ‘Indian English’. Therefore, if you are not familiar with the correct words, there may be some confusion while communicating with the natives. Sometimes, the spelling of the word could be the same but the pronunciation differs. If the person you are talking with has a hard time understanding you, you will hear phrases like ‘pardon me’, ‘come again’, ‘I didn’t get you’, ‘I am sorry’, ‘excuse me’, ‘you don’t speak English, do you?’.

First and foremost ‘we’ are referred as ‘East Indians’ or ‘Asian Indians’ and in a derogatory manner ‘dotted Indians’ (as Indian ladies happen to wear bindi on their foreheads). When they say East Indians…it doesn’t mean that you have come from Eastern part of India. They absolutely have no clue, how big is India, anyway! The Indian subcontinent lies on the eastern side of the globe/world…when Britain is taken as Center! So… ‘East Indian it is’! Generally ‘Indians’ is the word for native Americans, here. Well…we all know that Columbus was in search of India but arrived at America and he was greatly convinced that he met Indians. And so goes the story…

Image – Courtesy Wikipedia
Collage – Malar Gandhi

 Culinary Vocabulary – Indian English to American English

Indian English	American English	Humble Explanation
Brinjal	Eggplant	Unless you go to an ethnic store, its ‘eggplants’.
Curd	Yogurts	No one understands what curd means…the good part is they have a varieties of yogurts, with lots of flavors, with and without fat, etc. You should look for ‘plain yogurt’ for Indian cooking.
Wash up	Do the dishes	Cleaning the dishes is ‘doing the dishes’, here.
Wash your hands	Wash up	Refresh yourself is a sublime term to go wash your face and hands.
Small pastries	Finger food	The portion we serve up on our plate meals is also sometimes, mentioned as finger food! They actually serve more of just 2-3 items (carb, protein, veggies).
French beans	Snow peas	Even though its obvious, when you spot them in the store, they aren’t that tasty anyway.
Cafe (Kayf)	Cafe (Kafay)	Pronunciation difference, Americans pronounce the French terms like a real French-man.
Coriander leaves	Cilantro	I have seen in Food network (TV channel) people say coriander powder. But when it comes to leaves…its cilantro!!!
Lady’s Finger	Okra	Oh man, you don’t want to say it loud!
Capsicum	Bell Peppers	Hey, we are actually using a Botanical name.
Pulses	Lentils	They don’t know how many varieties we have. Better, don’t bother.
Legumes	Beans	Yes, beans is the term for most of the legumes.
Chick peas	Garbanzos	I think they are talking in Spanish.
Sooji or Rawa	Semolina, cream of wheat	The Ethiopian ‘cous cous’ is much like our semolina. Sometimes, I mention it as ‘Indian cous cous’ to my American friends.
Sago or Sabudana	Tapioca	They haven’t seen anything like our sago. So, no specific term for this.
Non-Veg	Meat and Seafood	Okay, as soon as you leave India, forget this term. Being a ‘vegetarian’ and ‘vegan’ is a lifestyle choice here. Its a meat nation in my opinion.
Sweets	Candy	Yes, invariably all our Indian sweets are simply referred as candies.
Desserts or Sweets	Desserts (disserts)	Pronounce it much like ‘disserts’ not ‘desert’. If not, be ready for a quick English class!
Biscuits	Cookies	Maybe you are told this number of times by your friends and relatives who already live here. Let me just refresh your memory.
Starters	Appetizers	Hmmm, appetizers makes sense after all.
Jelly	Jell-o	If you are saying ‘Jelly’ its a kind of fish found in the sea. Its jell-o.
Ice fruit	Popsicle	Popsicle is nice to say after all.
Bill (at restaurants)	Check (at restaurants)	Indeed its very important to understand this term. Useful most of the time. If you say ‘bill’ you will confuse the clerk! Bill is for currency here.
Beans	Greens beans	We won’t have to mention ‘string-less beans’ or ‘string beans’ anymore…most of time its just one variety that hits the market.
Board beans	Lima beans	Its nice to know this term, you may want to cook it!
Forks and Knives	Silverware	Its silverware, regardless of the material used to make it (brass,  stainless steal, plastic)!!!
Steal plates	Metal plates	You will hardly notice any. Its only used in prison by the inmates.
Ceramic wares	China	Yes, its simply ‘China’ not even ‘China dish or China cup’! As they are the prime exporters.
Take-away	Take-out	Take out meal is usually associated with Chinese food.
Corn flour	Corn starch	They have too many items processed from corn, like corn meal, batter, self-rising flour etc.
Maida	All purpose flour	They use it in most of their dishes.
Atta (Wheat flour)	Wheat flour	Probably you knew this already, bleached is extra fine, fortified is vitamins enriched and whole wheat flour is coarse flour with husk in it.
Icing sugar	Confectioner’s sugar	Powdered sugar is always confectioner’s sugar. You wouldn’t miss it on the aisle, anyway.
Sherbeth	Sorbet (Sorbe)	Pronounced much like ‘Sorbe’ with ‘t’ silence.
Dry grapes	Raisins	Sun-dried raisins. No more kismis and sultanas.
Spring onions	Green onions	Spring onions have even bigger bulb than green onions. And do not confuse yourself with leeks (yet another variety of onion leaves found, here).
Ground nuts	Peanuts	Probably no one will understand you, if you say ‘ground nuts’. Yes, they are peanuts here.
Milk	Cream	Cream, creamer is the term for milk.
Tetra pack milk	Half and Half	Reduced milk is called half and half. You may want to know this, if you are a coffee aficionado like me.
Ice tea	Sweet tea	Its so hard to get rid of my habits, I always pause for a minute before I say ‘Sweet tea, please’.
With or without milk?	Black or White? (in context to coffee)	Don’t look annoyed, if they ask you this question in the restaurants or in office…they are asking you, how do you want your coffee.
Salt biscuits, tea time biscuits	Crackers	If it is not too sugary, it crackers.
Chocolates or Toffees	Hard candies	Did you know, ‘candy’ is the word came from an Indian word ‘Kandu‘ (sugar-lump). India is the first country to invent sugar from cane-sugar.
Chocolate	Chocolate bars	Chocolate is always associated with chocolate bars. As small toffees are called candies here.
Beet root	Beets	They simply don’t use the word ‘roots’ for many vegetables.
Tissue paper	Napkin, Kitchen Towels, Paper towels	Don’t use the term ‘Tissue paper’ in the kitchen or in the restaurants. Its the term they use for toiler papers, tissue rolls. So, its napkins or kitchen towels here.
Beef	Steak, sirloin, brisket, ribs, hamburger	When it comes to beef, they don’t refer to the meat itself but to a cut of it. Thus you can have a pork steak or a salmon steak, as well as one cut from beef. Pull yourself together, they have a huge collection of beef here.
Pork	Ham, bacon, chops, lions, sausages etc	The meat itself is called pork but if you want to explore various cuts…look at the butcher’s chart list in the market or get a nice cook book.
Goat meat (Mutton)	Lamb (sheep meat is mutton)	I know, they both are entirely different. Goat meat is something frowned upon. Its like saying ‘dog meat’. Guess, black Americans were the ones who ate goat back in olden days and its often associated with slavery. So, no one eats them here. You can shop them only in a middle-east or any other ethnic market.
Ground meat	Minced meat	Usually minced meat is of goat’s meat in India, here its turkey!!!…Get a grip.
Hard drinks	Whiskey	Be specific.
Vodka	Vodka (vaad – ca)	Pronounced as ‘vaad-ca’.
Lemon juice	Lemonade	Lemonade comes in pet-jars.
Tin Beer	Six pack	It comes in a fancy six-pack, so it is cut short saying just ‘six pack’. Do not confuse it with body builder’s six packs, okay.
Raw Plantain	Green Plantain	Its again another Mexican vegetable.
Chow Chow / Bangalore Brinjal	Chayote	Its a Mexican vegetable here. And ‘Chow’ means “to eat’, specially they say ‘chow’ for dog foods!!!
Milk Powder	Skim Milk	Its obvious, this is the right term to use.
Country Chicken	Hen, Cage-free Chicken	They have absolutely no idea, what a free-range chicken is. Hell with industrial farming!
Prawn	Shrimps	Of course there are varieties of prawns, but its just ‘shrimps’ here. Fresh, frozen, Shelled, cooked etc. And cooked is something not a dish of ‘ready to eat’, its shelled, boiled and then packed-frozen shrimps.
Groundnut oil	Peanut oil	They will have a hard time understanding you, if you say ‘groundnut oil’!
Green chilies	Chili Peppers	As I told you before. We gave suffix to most of the chili varieties by color and texture.
Jug	Pitcher	Pitcher is the correct term for a Jug.
Tumbler	Glass	Invariably everything is called glass, even though its made of ceramic or plastic. Tumbler could be a right term, the one which tumbles…anyway.
Coffee cup or Tea cup	Drinking mug	Mug will do, they will get it!
Grill	Broil	Many would understand, what you mean. No worries.
Deep fried	Fried	Fried always signifies ‘deep-fried’. In Southern  parts of America, most of the dishes are deep-fried.
Kadai or Karahi	Wok	Yes, wok is the correct term for our round-bottomed cookware.
Tablespoon	Serving ladles	They say ladles for table spoon, as tablespoon is used for the measuring purpose in the kitchen.
Mess	Dorm Cafeteria	I know, you figured it out already. We all do, don’t we.
Rug or Tea cloth	Dish Towel	Dish cloth is the term for kitchen towels.
Tin (food)	Can	Canned food is the term for most of the tinned products.
Carry bag	Shopping bag	Well, you don’t have to actually carry them for shopping, but just in case if you wanna know…its ‘shopping bag’.
Vegetable shop	Grocery shop	Everything is in the grocery stores, because its always some super-store…not like in India, where you step out just for ‘chilies’ and ‘curry leaves’!
Dust bin or garbage	Trash	Just trash will do.
Wash counter	Basin	Although you will never notice a wash counter separately near the dining room or in the restaurants, you can excuse yourself to the restrooms (a.k.a. toilets in India).
Soup	Clear soup, cream soup, pottage, gumbo	It depends what type of soup you prefer.
Omlette	Omelet	The spelling differs. Its generally easy to follow, though!
Naan	Naan bread	Yes, they keep saying that, no matter how many times we correct them! Okay, its their country!
Indian tea	Chai tea	They are actually saying it ‘tea-tea’, its funny to watch.
Chappathi, Roti,	Flat Breads	Flat breads is the term used for most of our roti varieties.
Shallow fried	Pan fried	Sometimes, it is also braised. Unless you are talking to a gourmand, its plain ‘pan fried’.
Tawa	Griddle	Griddle cakes, Pancakes are the terms used for the food, that was toasted on a tawa.
Vessels (Cooking Utensils)	Crockery, Crock-pot	Vessel is something that is sent to space.
Bun	Biscuit	On a breakfast or dinner menu, you may want to order it. If you think its Indian-biscuit. Then you will miss a perfect dish!
Chewing gum	Gum	If you are wondering what would they call ‘gum’, it is called ‘glue’ here.
Tap	Faucet	Tap is for tapping a telephone conversation. So, faucet it is.
Black pepper	Peppercorns	Other than our black peppers, many varieties of chilies came to India after the discovery of America. So, we just added a suffix to them saying ‘green, red, dry’.
Maize	Corn	We are talking in British English.
Leafy vegetables	Greens	Palak is spinach, I guess you already knew that. Otherwise none of our greens show up here in their market.
Vitamin	Vitamin (Vaitamin)	But pronounced as ‘Vaitamin’.
Semi-cook	Raw, Medium, Rare	…are the words used for meat. It means, how you want your meat to be done.
White rice	Rice	Rice is bit rarity here, they hardly serve up the quantity that we do in India. So, no specifications required.
Plain water	Water	No ice, please.
Drinks with ice	On the rocks	We don’t have to complicate things saying ‘with’ and without’ here.
Disposable plates	Paper plates	Just paper-plates will do. If we say ‘disposable’ they will think something Eco-friendly or biodegradable etc. Although that’s the idea, hehe.
Use and throw – forks and knives	Plastic forks	I once confused the waitress, here.
Canteen	Cafeteria	I suppose…as soon as you arrived, you will figure it out. No dictionary required for this!
Brim full, loaded, stomach full (eating context)	Stuffed	I have eaten more is ‘Stuffed’ here. While we used to say ‘stomach full’ or ‘brim full’.
Preparing a meal/ Prepared a dish	Fixing a dish, fixed dinner	Although they will understand you. Fixed or fixing a meal is more likely used.
Brown bread	Whole wheat bread	They have a huge varieties of bread, so be specific.
Cool drinks or Soft drinks	Soda	Its just soda. No worries they will give you ‘well-chilled’.
Finger chips	French fries	For a brief period it was also called ‘freedom fries’, when France & America had a cold war!
Filter coffee	Brewed coffee	That’s the only coffee they make, instant coffee is hardly in use. Remember coffee is always just coffee decoction, without cream (milk).
Hotel	Restaurant	Hotel / Motel is for just staying and restaurant is for eating.
Spice powder	Curry	Any spice blend from India is invariably referred as ‘curry’.
Mixie	Blender	They will never get a clue, if you keep saying ‘mixie’! Mixer is the term they often use for wine-mixing! So, blender it is.
Grinder	Food processor (maybe)	There is no such thing as our ‘Indian wet-grinder’ here. I use blender for making batter. They have cake mixers and food processors for various purpose, if you are interested.
Soda	Club soda	Alright, this ‘soda’ is called club soda.
Tomato sauce	Ketchup	Tomato sauce is less sweet, comes in a can for cooking.
Sugar-free	Artificial sweetener	They will be wondering ‘what is sugar-free’ means and might trick you saying there are many items without sugar!!!
Kneading	Rolling	Rolling pin is used to flatten the dough.
Chopper	Food processor / chopping board	Chopper means helicopter.
Frying with little oil	Stir-fried or saute (sautay)	Saute is a French word, again you will have to pronounce it ‘sautay’.
Thinly sliced, matchsticks cutting	Julienne	The thin cuts of vegetables like chilies, ginger and carrots ‘julienne’. Again another French culinary term.
Chicken wings	Buffalo wings	Of course buffaloes don’t have wings, this chicken wings dish was first created in Buffalo (name of place) near New York.
Sweet potatoes	Yams, Louisiana yams	And don’t ask me, what would they call the ‘yams’ then! They don’t have any yams in their country.
Fast food	Fast food Chain, Fast food joints	Chain of stores…you may spot the same name like McDonald’s, Subway, Taco Bell in every village, town, city you go in America.
Chicken leg piece	Drumsticks	Chicken drumsticks, as it looks like one.
Drumsticks (vegetable)	No word for this vegetable, its not found in America.	Drumsticks is usually chicken leg piece or actual drum sticks (music instrument).
Main course	Entree	Pronounced in French.
Doggie bag (in restaurants)	Take out box	Don’t expect them to pack you with your left overs, they usually give you the box, unless you are dining in an upscale restaurant.
Family room or private room (restaurants)	Booth	You will scare the hell out of the waitress here, if you mention ‘I want a family room’ ! So, please refrain from saying it!
Coca cola	Coke	Coke, Diet coke will do.
Pot (cooking vessel)	Pot (?)	Pot, pot head means drug and the drug abuser, respectively.
Fish fillets	Fillets (filay)	Pronunciation difference. Be easy on your tongue.
Butter	Butter (butta)	You don’t have to stress ‘r’ and ‘t’ anymore!
Curry, Gravy etc	Curry	‘Curry’ is the term used for most of our Indian dishes, invariably of it nature, texture and cooking methods. Can’t help it folks, get over it!
Turmeric (tarmaric)	Turmeric (tur-meric)	Just pronounce it in their way, even though it is native to India!
Hot	Warm	Something that is hot (in temperature) is warm.
Spicy and Lot of chilies.	Hot	Chili’s heat is always ‘Hot’. Don’t confuse it with temperature.