It's been almost 4 years since we moved from France to Quebec, and it's becoming complicated to speak to all the readers here ;)
Actually, French and Quebecois people don't always use the same words to talk about the same things. And of course, this is true in the kitchen and in recipes as well.
You see where I'm going, I have to choose but no one understands anything 😅
Rather, it's difficult to follow mainly for Quebecois people because I've continued using French terms from the start. My blog existed before I left for Quebec and 80% of the readers live in France. So it seemed logical to me. But it's becoming less and less natural because I often forget which term is used in which country, haha…
Also, people around me here in Quebec have often told me that they couldn't reproduce my recipe because they misunderstood an ingredient… Or that it was a total disaster again because of a language problem! Especially last Christmas when my associate's father made a very disappointing Yule log (one of my recipes) haha...
So, I've been asked to create a small lexicon of words that differ between Quebec and France, so here it is!
The first one to be blamed because it causes a lot of trouble… it's "levure chimique" for the French and "poudre à pâte" in Quebec! Obviously, when you see "levure" (yeast) and you don't know "levure chimique" (baking powder), well, you think of real yeast… like baker's yeast. So you make your small cake and put it in the oven with your baker's yeast inside… And then it's a disaster! Because baker's yeast is made for bread-making, you let the bread ferment at room temperature before baking, it's not the same thing as "poudre à pâte" (baking powder), which is a mixture of baking soda and cornstarch used to make cakes rise in the oven…
So now you know: levure chimique = poudre à pâte!
Following the line of false friends all called "levure" (yeast), we can also mention "levure maltée" in France, which is called "levure alimentaire" or "levure nutritionnelle" in Quebec. These are dead yeast flakes that are used to add a cheesy flavor to a dish (and often some vitamins as well).
Another annoying thing, but that everyone understands anyway, is the unit of degrees. Although Celsius is also widely used in Quebec, it turns out that ovens are in Fahrenheit, I don't know why… So if your oven is in Fahrenheit, every time I say 180°C, you have to heat your oven to 360°F (356 to be exact, but well…).
Now let's try to untangle the story of shallots, okay? So, in Quebec, a "échalote française" (French shallot) is the small oval purple bulb, which is simply called "échalote" in France, so far so good. But "échalotes" OR "oignons verts" (green onions) in Quebec, are "cébettes" in France, those white/green stems that look like big chives! So when I write "a bunch of cébettes" in my recipes, nobody understands… So on my website: "échalote" = the purple bulb. And "cébettes" = the green stems!
We won't go back to the confusion of beans/beans but know that you can generally always replace the word "haricot" (bean) with "fève" (bean) to get straight to Quebec! This is true for dry legumes: red beans = red beans, etc… But also for fresh vegetables: green beans = green beans, and butter beans = yellow beans… it makes sense. We also say, here, more often "red lentils" for "coral lentils".
To finish, here is a small collection of translations, kitchen-special:
- We don't say "citronnade" (lemonade) - we say "limonade" (lemonade)
- We don't say "myrtille" (blueberry) - we say "bleuet" (blueberry)
- We don't just say "noix" (walnut) - we say "noix de grenoble" (walnuts)
- We don't say "noix de pécan" (pecan) - We say "pacanes" (pecans)
- We don't say "pignons de pin" (pine nuts) - we say "noix de pin" (pine nuts)
- We don't say "yaourt" (yogurt) - we say "yogourt" (yogurt)
- We don't often say "soja" (soy) - we say "soya" (soy)
- We don't just say "moutarde" (mustard) - we say "moutarde de Dijon" (Dijon mustard) or "moutarde jaune" (yellow mustard) for American mustard
- We don't say "petits pois" (green peas) - we say "pois verts" (green peas)
- We don't say "houmous" (hummus) - we say "hummus" (hummus)
- We don't say "cacahuète" (peanut) - we say "arachide" (peanut) or even "peanut"
- We don't say "un goûter" (a snack) - we say "une collation" (a snack)
- We don't say "cuillère à soupe et cuillère à café" (tablespoon and teaspoon) - we say "cuillère à table et cuillère à thé" (tablespoon and teaspoon)
- We don't say "pain perdu" (French toast) - we say "pain doré" (golden bread), otherwise, a "pain perdu" here is like a bread pudding from the day before. And a pudding here is a dessert cream… we're not going to get out of this 😅
- We don't say "le guacamole" (the guacamole) - we say "la guacamole" (the guacamole)
- We don't say "papier sulfurisé" (parchment paper) - we say "papier parchemin" (parchment paper)
- We don't say "pâte à tartiner" (spread) - we say "tartinade" (spread)
- Without wanting to start a debate, we don't say "pain au chocolat" - we say "chocolatine", but that's like in Toulouse where I did my restaurant studies so it doesn't change much for me…
- In the morning we eat a "déjeuner" (breakfast) and not a "petit-déjeuner" (breakfast), at noon we eat a "dîner" (lunch), and not a "déjeuner" (lunch), and in the evening we eat a "souper" (dinner), and not a "dîner" (dinner)
- And we don't say the anglicisms "cheesecake, banana bread, carrot cake, cinnamon rolls, porridge, curry…" - we say "gâteau au fromage, pain banane, gâteau à la carotte, roulés à la cannelle, gruau, cari…"
So, if you're French, I hope you feel a little Québécois now, and vice versa! By the way, my book exists in a Quebec version here and in a French version for Europe and people often ask me what the differences are. So, besides the measurements in cups, you have your answer ;)