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athukkugirathu (Tamil) to press a fruit softly with the fingers

Stirring it up

And then time must be taken to get things correctly and thoroughly prepared:

jiigi (Buli, Ghana) to stir with much energy, to prepare a hard food that cannot be stirred with one hand

ri-noo-ko che-he-kuo (Car, Nicobar Islands) chopping up with spoons and forks

tikudeni (Maguindanaon, Philippines) to put the correct amount of rice into a pot to be cooked

loyly (Finnish) the wave of heat that engulfs you when you throw water on the hot stove

Surprise water

Now is the moment when a cook’s individual skills can make all the difference to the end result. As the Chinese wisely say, ‘Never eat in a restaurant where the chef is thin’:

tliwat (Tagalog, Philippines) to pour a liquid several times between containers to mix or cool it well

bikkuri mizu (Japanese) a small amount of cold water added to a boiling pot of spaghetti or other noodles just before they are cooked (literally, surprise water: i.e. the cold water surprises the noodles)

ilas-ana (Yamana, Chile) to cut and spread meat open so that it cooks quicker

tuyong (Tagalog, Philippines) water added to make up for water lost (in cooking)

Dead dog

‘Hunger is the best cook,’ say the Germans, and it’s true that when you’re starving even the lightest snack will taste as good as anything you’ve ever eaten:

smörgås (Swedish) a sandwich (literally, butter goose)

ekiben (Japanese) a packed lunch dispensed from station kiosks

dokhlaya sobaka (Russian) a low-quality frankfurter (literally, a dead dog)

Xoox

For the fuller meal, what fine and varied ingredients the world offers:

jordgubbe (Swedish) a strawberry (literally, earth man)

ah (Arabic) egg white

xoox (Eastern Arabic) plums

sneisar-hald (Old Icelandic) the part of a sausage in which the pin is stuck

tsé-péene éškôseeséhotamého’évohkôtse (Cheyenne, USA) a pork sausage

Slug in the hole

Some ingredients might not be to everyone’s taste:

lelita’ (Iban, Sarawak and Brunei) an edible slug of the swampland

nido (Tagalog, Philippines) an edible bird’s nest

brarah (Hebrew) second-rate fruits (specifically oranges)

kavavangaheti (Tsonga, South Africa) a dead animal so large that people cannot finish its meat (for example, hippo, whale or elephant)

cilh-vā ns (Hindi) the flesh of a kite (the eating of which is said to produce madness)

mmbwe (Venda, South Africa) a round pebble taken from a crocodile’s stomach and swallowed by a chief

Cabbage or cheese

The Italians even approve or disapprove in terms of food:

come i cavoli a merenda totally out of place, inappropriate (literally, like cabbage for a snack)

come il cacio sui maccheroni perfect (literally, like cheese on pasta)

Your legs are long

The actual nosh itself is only part of it. Company is equally important, and in many parts of the world you simply have no idea who’s going to show up:

pakiroki (Rapanui, Easter Island) a pauper who comes to someone else’s house hoping to be invited to eat

jiao chang (Chinese) your legs are long (said of someone who arrives just as something delicious is being served)

a la suerte de la olla (Chilean Spanish) to arrive at someone’s house not knowing what food they will be offering (literally, to the luck of the pot)

bufeák (Czech) a guy who hangs around cafeterias and eats leftovers

xenodaites (Ancient Greek) a devourer of guests or strangers

On reflection

Say cheese

When trying to catch a person’s attention and have him/her look into the lens, the old Czech photographers’ phrase was pozor, vyleti ptacek, which literally means ‘watch out, a bird will be released/fly out’ (from the camera). In Serbia, people are asked to say ptica, ‘bird’. Danish photographers have a variety of phrases they can use, but their favourite is sig appelsin, ‘say orange’.

The English word cheese is often used because pronouncing it shapes the mouth into a smile. Other languages have adopted this method, with different words that have a similar sound or effect:

kimchi (Korean) a traditional fermented dish made of