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qiezi (Mandarin) aubergine

cerise (French) cherry

whisky (Argentinian Spanish)

In Malta, people sometimes jokingly say ġobon, their word for cheese, which will obviously result in the exact opposite facial expression.

Gobbling it down

Sometimes your guests are so busy filling their faces that they forget about the politer aspects of sharing a meal:

fresser (Yiddish) someone who eats quickly and noisily

physingoomai (Ancient Greek) to be excited by eating garlic

qarun (Persian) someone who eats two dates or two mouthfuls at once

bwakia (Swahili) to throw into the mouth (for example, pieces of food, nuts, tobacco)

komba (Chewa, South East Africa) to scrape a pot or dish with the forefinger, as children do

pelinti (Buli, Ghana) to move very hot food around inside one’s mouth to avoid too close a contact

ikok (Ik, Nilo-Saharan) to knock bones together in order to take out and eat the marrow from inside

waphaka (South African Township) to eat faster than the rest

Miss Manners

Scoffing too fast can be just the start of the problem:

buttare giu tutto come un lavandino (Italian) to eat like a pig (literally, to throw down everything as if one were a sink)

muwel (Manobo, Philippines) to fill the mouth so that one cannot talk

hdaśna (Dakota, USA) to miss when putting food into one’s mouth

xom-xoàm (Vietnamese) to speak while one’s mouth is full

roic (Gaelic) the sumptuous feasting by boorish people without any of the refined manners of genteel society

False friends

sky (Swedish) gravy

tuna (Tuvaluan, Polynesia) prawn or eel

binlíd (Tagalog, Philippines) small broken particles of milled rice

dark (Albanian) evening meal

fig (Caribbean Creole) banana

Slow Food

So, instead, take your time and fully savour the experience:

fyompola (Mambwe, Zambia) to lick honey off the fingers

pisan zapra (Malay) the time needed to eat a banana

Menu envy

For some, the salad next door is always greener:

Futterneid (German) the desire to eat what is on another person’s plate (literally, feeding envy)

lyu mupusulo (Mambwe, Zambia) to eat so as to cheat another out of his share of food

selongkar (Malay) to steal food off a plate

gagula (Tsonga, South Africa) to take food without permission, showing a lack of good manners

Picky

Others could do with feeling a bit hungry once in a while:

kieskauw (Dutch) a person who trifles with his food

malastigà (Tagalog, Philippines) being bored of eating the same food all the time

Krüsch (northern German) somebody who dislikes a lot of foods (and is therefore difficult to cook for)

My mouth is lonely

And some greedy pigs just don’t know when to stop:

amuti (Rapanui, Easter Island) a glutton; someone who will eat anything, such as unripe or out-of-season fruit

akaska (Dakota, USA) to eat after one is full

ngang da (Vietnamese) to lose one’s appetite because one has eaten between meals

kuchi ga samishii (Japanese) eating when you don’t need to, for the sake of it or out of boredom (literally, my mouth is lonely)

knedlikový (Czech) rather partial to dumplings

hostigar (Chilean Spanish) to gorge on sweets to the point of nausea

Angel cake

In the end, though, it’s all in the eye – or rather mouth – of the beholder. For better …

alsof er een engeltje op je tong piest (Dutch) utterly delicious, heavenly tasting (literally, as if an angel is urinating on your tongue)

kou fu (Chinese) the good luck prerequisite for having opportunities to eat delicious food (literally, mouth fortune)

… or worse:

panshey (Bengali) food that tastes rather flat

ichootakbachi (Alabama, USA) to leave a bad taste in the mouth

tomatoma (Mailu, Papua New Guinea) tasteless food

pikikiwepogosi (Ojibway, North America) having the taste of an animal that was tired out before it was killed

tsitlama (Setswana, Botswana) to make a wry face after eating or drinking something nasty

Restaurant review

Tired of cooking at home, not to mention doing the washing-up and putting-away, we may tell ourselves how nice it is to eat out. But though