[Sca-cooks] steam-baking

[Philippa Alderton]

--- Elaine Koogler <ekoogler1 at comcast.net> wrote:
> Only it wasn't a computer that did this
> translation....it was to very
> scholarly gentlemen with PhD's...I'm not sure why
> they didn't translate this
> particular word, but I do know that oftentimes
> scholars will use the
> original word as there may not have been an accurate
> translation of it.  In
> Chinese, a good example is the word  "mei", which is
> usually translated as
> "plum", but it refers to a fruit that's not really
> like what we think of as
> a plum.  When Dr. Anderson and Teresa Wang worked on
> the translation of Ni
> Tsan's manuscript, this was one of the things they
> pointed out in their
> notes was this very problem.

There's often similar problems when dealing with
unfamiliar ingredients from other cultures, too. I
know that when I was learning about sub-Saharan
African cooking, one ingredient was frequently
translated as "spinach" and what they were actually
referring to was arugula. Very much thrilled a couple
of Nigerian priests who were over here to study in
Steubenville, but were handling services at the local
parish (I used to housesit, and feed the incoming
priests) when I found this out, and found them sone
fresh arugula from a nearby organic farmer- kinda, a
taste of home ;-)

Real nice guys ;-) I think they really enjoyed having
someone to talk to about their homes, who knew enough
to ask intelligent questions ;-)

Then, there was Joaquim, from Tanzania, who gave me a
run down on the local attitudes towards the Leakeys
(liked and respected them, because they were always
available for emergency transport in emergencies, paid
good wages, and would often take village reps into
town with them on shopping od business trips), as well
as local attitudes towards the Masai (queer ducks, but
trustworthy friends) and similar bits of information.

Phlip, smiling at some good memories.....

=====
Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider who cain't be throwed....

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