Categorisation of baked goods (and pancakes) in English and Chinese

Posted on 24/01/2012 by haonowshaokao

British English

American English

Mandarin Chinese

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24 Responses to Categorisation of baked goods (and pancakes) in English and Chinese

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  2. chelonist says:
    24/01/2012 at 6:13 pm

    Britain and America. Two countries divided by a common language

    Reply
  3. Alan says:
    29/01/2012 at 2:06 am

    I am from the UK and I think of the chocolate chip ones in your picture as ‘Cookies’. That is probably the fault of this brand:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maryland_Cookies
    http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/forum/forum_comments/2221

    Reply
    • haonowshaokao says:
      29/01/2012 at 10:25 am

      I’m also from the UK. They might be branded as ‘cookies’ but I’d say we’d still say they are a kind of biscuit. It’s a bit of a rabbit hole to get down, maybe an appendix is necessary.

      Reply
  4. Anonymous says:
    28/03/2012 at 1:31 am

    What the Brits call a scone and what Americans call a biscuit aren’t the same at all. American biscuits are buttery, very light, and not sweet at all. Scones are creamy, dense and sweet.

    Reply
    • haonowshaokao says:
      28/03/2012 at 1:37 am

      I am aware of this – but they are fundamentally variations on a theme. A salty, buttery, light scone or a creamy, dense, sweet biscuit, you could say.

      Reply
    • Alan says:
      28/03/2012 at 10:21 am

      Anonymous expert baker you are wrong; saying that British scones are “creamy, dense and sweet” is just as wrong as saying something like “all bread is sweet and has raisins in it”. It is true that /some/ bread has raisins, but not all, just like how some some British scones are light and crumbly, and some are dense; some are sweet, and some are savoury.

      To summarize:
      1. The closest matching British food to the American ‘biscuit’ is the British ‘scone’.
      2. The closest matching American food to the British ‘scone’ is the American ‘biscuit’.

      In my experience, American ‘scones’ have typically been sweet, which is I think why you are a poor confused Anonymous expert baker. If you go to the UK and have a cream tea, the jam (and maybe the cream) will be lovely and sweet, but the ‘scone’ probably won’t be.

      Reply
  5. Anonymous says:
    28/03/2012 at 2:47 am

    As a baker, given that they rely on different behaviors from fat and liquid, I’d say differently, but it’s your chart.

    Reply
  6. missuoo says:
    28/03/2012 at 9:23 am

    Hi,

    I’m here from your post on I Love Charts on Tumblr. I like the chart. I wanted to ask why was pie not included on this chart? I know that what is considered pie in one country is considered cake or something else in another country. Some things we call a pie, other countries call a tart. Another example, cheesecake is considered a pie in some European countries.

    Also, how do you pronounce those Chinese words? Where do you stress the accents if they apply? Are those works Mandarin, Cantonese, Fuijanese, or other?
    Thanks :-)

    Reply
    • haonowshaokao says:
      28/03/2012 at 10:05 am

      * Pies, as you say, are a whole other area of trouble. Perhaps a second chart is needed.
      * Pronunciation of Chinese words is difficult as the language is tonal – ‘gao’ has a flat tone, ‘mianbao’ and ‘dangao’ both fall on the first syllable, then are flat on the second. ‘Bing’ falls then rises, so it sounds a little like ‘bi-ing?’
      * Mandarin, but the characters are universal. That is, so long as you’re not using the traditional ones, these are the simplified versions used on the mainland.

      Reply

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  8. jcr3 says:
    29/03/2012 at 7:03 pm

    As a French, the only bread is the tird from left, first line. Otherwiser it’s brioche, vienoiserie, gateaux, crêpes, etc. I can not imagine what a scone is ?

    Reply
  9. Anonymous says:
    29/03/2012 at 10:16 pm

    Perhaps the opening at the bottom of the British “scone” section implies this, but your thicker pancakes are what I would call “Scotch pancakes”, which I believe (unless my childhood cookbook has misinformed me) the Scottish call “drop scones”…

    Reply
    • haonowshaokao says:
      29/03/2012 at 10:45 pm

      I’d call them Scotch pancakes too – a type of pancake. Or a drop-scone (well-noticed!)

      Reply
      • Alan says:
        30/03/2012 at 3:51 am

        There is another subtle US-British difference here. North Americans distinguish between “pancakes” and “crepes” (crepe being just French for “pancake” to most of the world). The US ‘Crepe’ is the thin frying-pan sized one, US ‘pancakes’ are thicker and smaller (more like UK Scotch pancakes/drop scones).

        Reply

  10. Pingback: A Categorization Of What Americans, Brits, And Chinese People Call Baked Goods | HottestNewsFeed.com

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  12. Pingback: イギリス、アメリカ、中国語で「小麦粉を焼いた食品」はこう呼ぶ - DNA

  13. business says:
    02/07/2013 at 1:42 pm

    Look at the time when she is considering suing the flour bomber.
    Some of the 1992 World Expo. Read your policy completely to avoid yeast infections.

    Reply

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