Food and Language

This post is for my bilingual or multilingual FB Family members. Well, really all of you, but I need some commiseration.

Food, and drink, and family really help in learning any language, of course, but there are also soooo many nuances. My food-related knowledge is pretty solid in various languages, but I also struggle.

Today, I ran into a problem.

So, I was texting back-and-forth with my Russian-speaking mother-in-law (yes, that happens!), and I ran into a problem.

To me, it seemed like a small mistake, but I totally got busted for saying that #chefimthemaking works as a "повар" (cook) and not a "шеф-повар" (chef).

Anyway, this seemed like such a small mistake to me, but don’t mess with a proud Russian momma, I guess.

So, to go on record, #chefinthemakimg is, indeed, a chef, not a cook. Fine, there are so many levels of chef that work at my wife’s restaurant, but she is most certainly a chef, and not a cook.

Sorry, mom!

Executive chef, chef de cuisine, sous chef, chef de partie, commis chef...I have NO idea how to explain these distinctions in Russian. I can barely do it in English.

Who’s with me?

What languages do you speak? Do you sometimes struggle?