We were amused reading this article on Huffington Post about 17 of the most mispelled food words. And as we sat there shaking our heads in agreement, we decided to follow suit and share a few words that we come across every day in South Africa, and are often misspelled.
1. Biryani, biriani, biriyani, buriyani, beryani, or beriani
Many people spell this ‘breyani’. If you’re not sure what it is, breyani is a spicy Indian rice dish and often has either a chicken or meat component. We’ve even been guilty of misspelling this!
2. Broccoli
Many menus will have this green vegetable spelled ‘brocolli’ and it makes us cringe!
3. Mangoes
We understand a lot of people get confused when it comes to plurals, but it’s not ‘mangos’.
4. Litchi
This is also spelled ‘lychee’ in some countries but please, it is not leechi.
5. Bobotie
Contrary to what you might think, this South African favourite is not spelled ‘babotie’. Our Dutch and Cape Malay ancestors would shudder.
6. Champagne
My goodness but does this word get spelled wrong often. People assume that if it sounds the same then it should be spelt the same.. ‘champaign’? No.
7. Terroir
Another wine term that is spelled ‘terror’ in many cases. Oops!
8. Restaurateur
Just because the operation that they run is called a restaurant. It’s not a ‘restauranteur’.
What mispelled food terms do you come across? Let us know in the comments section and we’ll be sure to include it in this article!