Nordic Food Glossary, an iPhone app that is also accessible via the internet, brings you the names of everything edible in English and seven languages spoken in the Nordic countries.
What will they bring you if you request merikrotti in Finland? The same thing you’d get asking for breiflabb in Norway or skötselur in Iceland, of course. Since food names and related terms vary so widely between languages, and since each country has its own specialities, it can be daunting to decipher and remember them – even if you’re proficient in the language.
An iPhone app called Nordic Food Glossary puts the words at your fingertips so you don’t have to guess. Also viewable on your nearest web browser, the glossary lists thousands of foods and ingredients in English, Finnish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese and Greenlandic, from air-dried ham to yams.
So next time you run into merikrotti, breiflabb or skötselur – or havtaske or marulk, for that matter – you’ll know you’re dealing with one of those charming beauties of the deep called anglerfish.
By Peter Marten, May 2010
