How the language of menus matters ⏲️ 6 Minute English

Hello. This is 6 Minute English from

BBC Learning English.

I'm Neil and I'm Beth.

Would you like some fried chicken

and chips with gravy, Beth?

No, thanks, Neil.

I don't really like fried chicken.

It's too oily for me. OK. No problem.

But, maybe you'd like some organic poulet roti in a tender meat jus with frites?

Oh. That sounds interesting. What is it?

Well, it's French for chicken and chips with gravy.

It's a strange fact

but the same dish described using different words can make it sound

more delicious, more exotic and more desirable.

Restaurants think carefully about the language they use to describe the food

on their menus, trying to make it sound appealing,

tasty or poetic. Instead of hamburgers,

we have gourmet burgers. It's jus not gravy

and raspberry coulis sounds a lot tastier than raspberry sauce.

Many of the words used to describe gourmet food,

that's food which is higher quality and more sophisticated than usual,

are French, coming from a country with a long tradition of high-level

cooking called haute cuisine.

But how does the language used to describe food affect our psychology

and help restaurants make menus which are both tempting and profitable?

That's what we'll be finding out in this programme,

along with some useful new vocabulary as well. But first,

I have a question for you, Neil. To train as a classical French chef

takes months as a full time apprentice,

but what is the name of the most famous cooking school teaching

French haute cuisine? Is it, a)

Le Cordon Bleu? b) Le Cordon Rouge? or c) Le Cordon Noir?

Well, I think it's Le Cordon

Bleu. OK, Neil.

I'll reveal the correct answer later.

It's important for restaurants to describe items on the menu

so diners know what to expect

and many chefs think foreign words sound more exciting.

But according to linguist

Dr Keri Matwick,

the use of French is decreasing.

Here, Keri explains why to Ruth

Alexander, presenter of BBC

World Service Programme, 'The Food Chain.

Yeah, there are studies that show that because it sounds fancier,

you know, therefore... French food

has long been considered the gourmet food, and it was popular.

But I would say now

there's a tendency to not use French because it sounds pretentious.

So, it can turn a diner off.

  Many restaurants use French names

in menus because they sound 'fancy', an adjective meaning special or unusual

with lots of decoration.

Kerry disagrees.

She thinks French names used to be popular

but are now seen as pretentious.

If something is pretentious,

it tries to appear more important or clever

than it really is. Some diners like the French names,

but it turns other diners off.

If something turns you off,

it makes you stop feeling

interested or excited. Brazilian chef Caroline

Martins agrees

that using French names in menus is becoming a thing of the past.

Caroline has stopped using French names in her pop-up restaurant,

Sampa, in Manchester as she explained to Ruth

Alexander for BBC

World Service Programme, 'The Food Chain'.

I am classically trained in French cuisine.

I was using a lot of French terms,

you know, and that wasn't very welcome, you know. People would be very confused,

they would ask me, "Oh, what is this 'brunoise'?

What is this 'chiffonade'?"

There would definitely avoid the dishes or

they would be sarcastic, as well about it,

you know. I had people booking a table, sitting down,

and then they start seeing all these French terms and they just leave.

Yes, yes, I had that happening. You had people walking out of the restaurant?

They just think 'This isn't for me!' This isn't for me...

'What is this?' You know, 'What am I eating?

I wanna eat food,

I don't wanna

eat names,

posh names, you know.'

Instead of feeling excited about

dishes described in French, Caroline's diners were sarcastic about them,

they mocked and made fun of them. Some diners even walked out!

Caroline thinks French makes her cooking sound too posh, too

fashionable, expensive and not available to everyone.

She has now started using English and her native Brazilian Portuguese

on the menu and is pleased with the results -

customers don't feel confused, and their curiosity

about the Brazilian dishes starts a conversation with the waiter.

All this talk of food is making me hungry. Neil.

Anyway, it's time to reveal the answer to my question.

What is the name of the famous French cooking school

  that teaches haute cuisine?

I said it was Le Cordon Bleu. Was I right?

Le Cordon Bleu, was the correct answer. The famous culinary art school,

Le Cordon Bleu, first opened its doors in Paris in 1895.

OK, let's recap the vocabulary

we've learnt from this programme, starting with 'gourmet food', food

which is better quality and more sophisticated than usual

and is often more expensive. The adjective

'fancy' means special, unusual and decorative.

If someone is pretentious,

they try to appear more important or clever than they really are.

The phrase 'to turn someone off' means to make someone

stop feeling interested or excited.

If you say something sarcastic,

you mock and insult

something by saying the opposite of what you mean.

And finally, the adjective

'posh' means fashionable, smart expensive and exclusive. Once again

our six minutes are up!

Join us again soon

for more trending topics and useful vocabulary here at 6 Minute

English. Goodbye for now.

Bye.