Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw was referring to Great Britain and the United States when he said “Two nations divided by a common language”. Aunt Ilana hazards to extend this to “Twenty one" nations divided by a common language” when it comes to Spanish.

When writing about Dominican cooking to an international audience, such as yourselves – we know from the forum that we have an impressive range of nationalities and international locations amongst our esteemed membership – we often come across food names that mean one thing in one place and are meaningless elsewhere because they are known by a totally different name. There are also several cases where the same name refers to a completely different thing, with all the confusion that creates.

My main experience is with Iberian Spanish and Dominican Spanish, but I have also visited a smattering of other Spanish-speaking countries. Often with amusing results. Watching my Dominican husband conversing with my mother, whose Spanish is staunchly Iberian with a smattering of Venezuelan influences, can sometimes border on the surreal.

What Mum calls “pimiento” Pedro calls “aji”. This means pepper, which is also sometimes called “chile” although this usually refers to the spicier varieties. What she calls “sesamo”, he calls “ajonjolí”.

Spaniards say “zumo” and Latin Americans say “jugo” for juice. Grapefruit is “pomelo” in Spain and “toronja” elsewhere, so the Dominican “jugo de china” for orange juice would not be understood. The most common way of saying potatoes in Spain is “patatas” except for in the southern region of Andalusia where they are called “papas”, as in Latin America. A famous and delicious Andalusian country recipe is “Papas a lo pobre” – onions, garlic, vegetables and potato slices fried in a generous amount of olive oil. Cabbage is “col” in Spain, not “repollo”, and prawns are “gambas” not “camarones”. Cream is “nata”, not “crema” which is used to refer to texture rather than a particular item.

Mexicans have some particular words for vegetables, such as “pepinillo” for “pepino” (cucumber) and “jitomates” for “tomates” (tomato).

In Cuba, okra is not “molondrón” as it is called in the DR, but “quimbombo” – both names have clear African roots. The Dominican “moro” (rice and beans) is “congrí” in Cuba and “gallo pinto” in Central America.

The Venezuelan word for banana is the unusual “cambur”. The Dominican “guineo” is also used in some other parts of the Americas, such as Nicaragua and Ecuador. Watermelon, usually called “sandía”, is “patilla” in Venezuela. Peach is “durazno”, while in most other places it is “melocotón”.

Further south in the Andean region we come across “palta” for “aguacate”, the more common Spanish word for avocado. The name originates in Mexico and is derived from the Aztec “ahucatl” which actually means “testicle”, and reveals that the Aztecs may have had a rather vivid imagination, or at least strange-looking testicles. In the Andes we find “camote”, better known as “boniato” or “batata” (sweet potato) elsewhere. “Batata” in turn comes from Arabic, which influenced many Spanish words.

That quintessential Latin American crop, corn, has many different names across the Spanish-speaking world: “Maíz” - as in maize - being the most common. Sweet corn is “maíz tierno” or “maíz dulce”. In Mexico the cob is called “elote”, in South America “choclo” , except for Venezuela where it is called “jojoto”. Central Americans call it “chilote”.

Although most Spanish speakers stick to the Spanish spelling of the Italian “broccoli” – “brócoli”, some call it “brécol”. “Cangrejo” is the usual name for crab, but many Latin Americans, including Dominicans and Colombians also know it as “jaiba”. In the DR at least “jaiba” tends to mean fresh water crab and “cangrejo” refers to the marine variety.

I'll end this chapter with this adaptation of a classic song:

You say batata and I say boniato,
You say guineo and I say banana,
Boniato, batata, guineo, banana - let’s call the whole thing off!
(with apologies to Ira & Israel Gershwin).


* Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea (former Spanish colony in West Africa) and Spain.