French Menu translator
 

Bon Jour; Does anyone know a good, comprehensive French menu guide? I had one for several trips that I copied from a larger travel book. Can no longer find my copy or the book. I really don't want to order sweetbreads by mistake, thinking I am getting something else. The menu guides in most travel books are too basic. Thanks, PC

I purchased the AAA Essential Food & Drink France by Hazel Evans in 2002 for less than $9. I found it helpful enough for a picky eater and one with medical problems.

Are there specific features that you need?

Love your name! Thanks for the tip on translator, I have shellfish allergies plus an aversion to "organ" meats which seen to appear frequently on European menus. Will check www.half.com for discounted version. Its a great site to buy travel books. PC

I like Patricia Wells' Food Glossary in her Paris travel book. I think you can download it from the internet.

We use the Marling MenuMaster :)

Good luck with it!

I'll give you a little sampling of one page. Perhaps the first few entries under the letter B will tell you if this is the book you would like...

Baba au rhum (3 stars)
A yeasted "cake" soaked with rum-flavoured syrup. Found in most parts of France. If you buy one from a patisserie, be prepared to eat it with a spoon.

Badasco
Provencal name for rascasse (fish). Used in BOUILLA-BAISSE and fish shoups but not ususally served on its own.

Baguette
Long stick-shaped loaf of bread.

Baie de ronce
Blackberry

Baiser (2 stars)
Confection of meringues sandwiched together with cream

Bajoue
Pig's cheek

It worked well enough for us without having to carry around a gigantic book. It is 126 pages and a bit larger than post card size.

http://www.patriciawells.com/glossary/atoz/glossary.htm

20 pages, double-sided, 8 1/2 x 11"

Or search here "acena" or "intimatefrance".

Best wishes,

Rex

Thanks to all, just printed out(pdf) 40 pages of Patricia Wells food glossary, will go to the library to reduce the size by 50%, (wish my printer would reduce, maybe it can but I don't know how) and staple it together--but just to be safe, I found the AAA Essential Guide on Amazon.com, used but in "like new " condition for $2.99--bought it! I'll compare the two and see how I do. You are all great. Wish I discovered this forum sooner. PC

Pick up a copy of the very witty and informative "What Kind of Food Am I?" It's small enough to fit in a pocket and delightful to browse in.

PC - instead of the trip to the library why not cut and paste it - dump it into word and then pronit two pages per page?

bookmarking

Nearly everyone has booklet printing capability with one or more programs (try your word processing program), whereupon the Patricia Wells A-Z is a handy reference to carry around.

Actually, I just discovered that you can print a booklet of the pdf file if you have Adobe Reader 8.0.

No idea if this is still a good website, but 3 years ago I received a "hard copy" via mail of the "French Food Glossary and Wine Guide" from www.intimatefrance.com.

You're making a lot of work for yourself.

The marling menu master is an easy to use and compact book that gives every possible menu name a restaurant may use with a great description.

It's easy to use and small enough to tuck in a pocket and at $9.95 it saved us from ordering a lot of things we would not have liked.

I would discourage anyone from purchasing/using the Marling Menu-Master for France.

For one thing, it hasn't been updated since 1971.

And, it is divided into sections: Hors d'Oeuvres, Potages, Oeufs, Poissons, etc.

It's much better to use a glossary that's in alphabetical order. Otherwise, in which section would you look up beverages or cheeses or herbs and spices? If you don't care for curry, or other ingredients, use a glossary that is totally alphabetical!

And, what could be easier than printing your own booklet for free?

I've emailed out a bunch of the alphabetical guides in the past couple of days and will be happy to email out more (email me at [email protected]), but will be out of town WITH NO LAPTOP (yay!) all day tomorrow and Friday, so if you don't hear back immediately, that's why.

I really like the witty and informative small booklet "What Kind of Food Am I?" for France.

I downloaded Patricia Wells' French to English Food Glossary to my Palm as a Word document. I have all my dictionaries in my Palm too. Makes for easy carrying.

I have also used the Marling Menu Master extensively and, yes, it is sometimes hard to find an item.

The food translator up on the Intimate France website is the same one I've been talking about and sending out to people - put together years ago by several people on the AOL France board. So if you can retrieve it online, so much the better!

The Intimate France one came to me via US mail. Maybe at that time they had a "brochure request" button on their website. My printer is so goofy that I don't end up printing downloads.

It is good to check. I recently saw a travel show on TV where the host was in Italy and clearly didn't know the menu. She just pointed at something and said, "I'll have that, it's spaghetti or something isn't it?" The reply was, "it's Donkey".

Too bad the Marlings are not in alphebetical order, as stated above.

I can recommend "Eating and Drinking in Paris."

I completely agree with everything djkbooks says about the Marling Menu Master. I was so excited when I bought it because it was so small, but now that I am in Paris, it has only made me more frustrated. For example, last night, I was at a restaurant and it had a smallish menu on a blackboard. It took me forever to look between entrees and poisson to figure out which section each item might be under since I did not know any of the words. Then, I could not find half of the things. My husband has resorted to just looking through the whole book to find things which takes forever.

And to top it off, I love scallops... last night there was a risotto on the menu with Saint Jacques. I had no idea what it was, and I was looking up Saint Jacques, well Marling menu master has it listed as Coquilles Saint Jacques. I know no French, so I would not have known to look up Coquilles. Patricia Wells, I later found out, has it listed alphabetically as Saint Jacques (coquilles) which would have been so much easier.

A lot of people like my free online culinary dictionary:

http://www.pjkhospitality.com/index....tion=glossaire

You can use it on your mobile device if you have internet access.

Let me know what you think!

We took "Eating and Drinking in Paris" by Andy Herbach and Michael Dillon. Good coverage, small size and has a few restaurant recs along with realistic advice. Even used it when going through the USDA check on our return to identify my treasures.

I now have the same book ready for Italy.

My absolute favorite is called "What Kind of Food Am I for France." Witty and very informative; small enough for a pocket or purse.