European Words Versus English or American

English has long been a mongrel language, strongly marked by just about every other tongue in Europe. With America’s thriving immigrant communities, the English spoken here is even more of a mixed bag—and therein lies much of its vitality.

For American cooks, much of our vocabulary comes directly from the French—a logical enough development given our love and acceptance of their principles of cooking. But I do think the time has come for America to recognize that we have our own distinct cuisine and its own young language. Today, culinary students are not necessarily taught by European chefs and the best food in this country is often being cooked by a new generation of American-born and American-trained chefs. Perhaps it’s about time for our vocabulary to catch up with our cooking.