{"id":1493,"date":"2010-09-02T00:04:55","date_gmt":"2010-09-02T00:04:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/?p=1493"},"modified":"2017-10-18T13:33:36","modified_gmt":"2017-10-18T11:33:36","slug":"how-do-you-feel-about-french-vegetables","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/french\/how-do-you-feel-about-french-vegetables\/","title":{"rendered":"How do you feel about French vegetables?"},"content":{"rendered":"

When you were tr\u00e8s jeune <\/em>(very young), did you enjoy eating all types of vegetables, or only a select few?<\/p>\n

Did you have the kind of dream parents who\u00a0indulge you\u00a0with the luxury of choosing what you want to eat, or did they force-feed you\u00a0toutes les<\/em>\u00a0l\u00e9gumes sans exception<\/em>\u00a0(all the vegetables, no exception) because -they always said- “C’est tr\u00e8s bon pour ta sant\u00e9<\/em>” (“It’s very good for your health”), “alors finis ton assiette !” (“so finish your plate!”)<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 “Finis ton assiette !” <\/em>(“Finish your plate!”)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Today, we’re going to expand for a bit\u00a0your knowledge and your vocabulary about les l\u00e9gumes<\/em>, the ones that you\u00a0already\u00a0know and the ones you still\u00a0don’t,\u00a0so that you can turn into une vraie “grosse l\u00e9gume<\/strong><\/em>” about the subject.<\/p>\n

What is a\u00a0“grosse l\u00e9gume<\/em>” in French? Not exactly the same idiomatic meaning in English. En anglais<\/em>, to become a “vegetable” means pretty much to become “brain dead”, either because of a tragic\u00a0accident, or because of old age (remember the argot <\/em>expression “gaga<\/strong><\/em>” from “More French Slang! B.A.-BA de l\u2019Argot: \u201cLettre G\u201d (1\u00e8re partie)”<\/strong><\/em><\/a>“<\/em>?<\/p>\n

In French, to become a “grosse l\u00e9gume<\/em>” actually means to become a “big shot<\/strong><\/em>.”<\/p>\n

So here you go, devenez une<\/em> “grosse l\u00e9gume”<\/em> sur ce sujet (“become a big shot on the subject of vegetables)!<\/p>\n

Before anything, what you have to know first is the main categories of les l\u00e9gumes<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The first category is la cat\u00e9gorie des l\u00e9gumes tiges<\/span><\/strong> <\/em>(stalk vegetables), such as l’asperge<\/strong> <\/em>(aspargus), la pousse de bambou <\/em><\/strong>(bamboo shoot), le fenouil<\/strong> <\/em>(fennel), or les crosses de foug\u00e8res <\/strong><\/em>(fiddleheads.)<\/p>\n

What\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>a Pousse de bambou<\/em> <\/strong>(bamboo shoot) looks like<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nLes crosses de foug\u00e8res <\/strong><\/em>(fiddleheads)<\/p>\n

Another category of l\u00e9gumes <\/em>is called les l\u00e9gumes bulbes<\/span><\/strong> <\/em>(bulb vegetables), which contain egregious anti-fresh breath\u00a0“stars”,\u00a0the one and only\u00a0oignons <\/em><\/strong>(onions.) Among les oignons<\/em>, you can distinguish between les oignons rouges<\/strong>, jaunes<\/strong>,\u00a0blancs<\/strong>, verts<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em>(red, yellow, white, green), and les oignons \u00e0 mariner<\/strong><\/em> (pickling onions.)<\/p>\n

Les oignons \u00e0 mariner<\/strong><\/em> (Pickling onions): Not your usual onions, but still not very “breath-friendly” either<\/p>\n

Other\u00a0l\u00e9gumes bulbes\u00a0<\/em>are the alleged\u00a0“vampire’s Enemy Number One”,\u00a0<\/strong>c’est-\u00e0-dire<\/em> l’ail<\/em> <\/strong>(namely, garlic), as well as les poirreaux<\/strong><\/em> (leeks.)<\/p>\n

A third category of vegetables is known as les l\u00e9gumes tubercules<\/span><\/strong> <\/em>(tuber vegetables.) The most famous one is certainly les pommes de terre<\/strong> <\/em>(“the apples of earth”, literally, which\u00a0happens to be\u00a0the name of potatoes in French.)
\nLa patate douce<\/strong> <\/em>(the sweet potato), of course,\u00a0also belongs to this category. Other\u00a0l\u00e9gumes tubercules <\/em>you may never have heard of are\u00a0le jicama <\/em>(same name is English, “jicama”), or le manioc <\/strong><\/em>(cassava.)<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nVoici un jicama<\/em><\/strong> (non, pas\u00a0pyjama)<\/em><\/p>\n

The\u00a0l\u00e9gumes that most people have no problem with in general are most likely les l\u00e9gumes feuilles<\/strong><\/em><\/span> (leaf vegetables.)<\/p>\n

Have you ever met someone who hates eating lettuce, for example?<\/p>\n

Some of the l\u00e9gumes feuilles <\/em><\/strong>are le chou<\/em><\/strong> (cabbage), the endive<\/em><\/strong>, and the all-too-funny sounding in French\u00a0pissenlit <\/strong><\/em>(dandelion.)<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nUne Endive<\/strong><\/p>\n

Finally,\u00a0nous devons aussi mentionner <\/em>(we\u00a0ought also to\u00a0mention) les l\u00e9gumes fruits<\/span> <\/strong><\/em>(fruit vegetables), such as the “fruit that became a vegetable”, la tomate <\/em><\/strong>(tomato), les olives<\/em><\/strong>, le piment <\/em><\/strong>(hot pepper), le cornichon <\/em><\/strong>(gherkin),\u00a0l’aubergine <\/strong><\/em>(eggplant),\u00a0les courgettes <\/strong><\/em>(zucchini), and finally the Halloween all-time fave’, la citrouille <\/strong><\/em>(pumpkin)!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Finally,\u00a0nous finissons le bal des l\u00e9gumes\u00a0<\/em>(we end the “vegetable party”, so to speak), with les l\u00e9gumes racines<\/span><\/em><\/strong> (root vegetables), which I’m rather sure may include a handful of\u00a0no-nos for many enfants <\/em>(kids), such as la betrave<\/strong><\/em> (beet), la carotte <\/strong><\/em>(carrot),\u00a0and le navet<\/em><\/strong> (turnip.) Le\u00a0navet\u00a0<\/em>probably should deserve a special place within the French vegetebles “hall of shame”:\u00a0No wonder that the word “navet<\/em>”\u00a0itself also means in French\u00a0a “Turkey”, i.e.\u00a0a technical word among movie critics\u00a0to designate a very bad movie —with an unbearably destestable\u00a0taste!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When you were tr\u00e8s jeune (very young), did you enjoy eating all types of vegetables, or only a select few? Did you have the kind of dream parents who\u00a0indulge you\u00a0with the luxury of choosing what you want to eat, or did they force-feed you\u00a0toutes les\u00a0l\u00e9gumes sans exception\u00a0(all the vegetables, no exception) because -they always said-…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[11345,11339,11300,9796,11361,11362,11353,11360,11358,11359,11342,11354,11341,11336,10788,11337,11351,11296,11343,11352,11356,11338,11347,11350,11363,11344,814,11349,11357,11355,11346,11348,11340,11298],"class_list":["post-1493","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-vocabulary","tag-ail","tag-asperge","tag-aubergine","tag-b-a-ba-de-largot","tag-betrave","tag-carotte","tag-chou","tag-citrouillelegumes-racines","tag-cornichon","tag-courgettes","tag-crosses-de-fougeres","tag-endive","tag-fenouil","tag-finis-ton-assiette","tag-gaga","tag-grosse-legume","tag-jicama","tag-legumes","tag-legumes-bulbes","tag-legumes-feuilles","tag-legumes-fruits","tag-legumes-tiges","tag-legumes-tubercules","tag-manioc","tag-navet","tag-oignons","tag-olives","tag-patate-douce","tag-piment","tag-pissenlit","tag-poirreaux","tag-pommes-de-terre","tag-pousse-de-bambou","tag-tomate"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t