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What can I call this side dish (I have to write it on a restaurant menu)? I have already written "cooked swiss chard" but I think it is not the exact definition. It is a mix of herbs that grow spontaneously on the fields, are then cooked and sautéed in a pan with oil, garlic and chilli. In Italian they are called "field herbs".

side dish

Chris H
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Gabriele Coscioni
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4 Answers4

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In the U.S., we would call usually these greens and not herbs. So why not use "sauteed field greens" or "sauteed wild greens"?

You should use a word like sautéed to indicate that they are cooked, because otherwise people will expect a salad.

Peter Shor
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    Or "sauteed foraged field greens". Anything "foraged" you can charge twice as much for. – Sneftel Oct 27 '21 at 14:21
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    Make sure to add the garlic, oil and chili as well. Greens by themselves aren't that exciting to some but add some garlic and you've got yourself a party. I'd order it, it looks tasty. – GdD Oct 27 '21 at 14:49
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    @Sneftel This rule applies to greens - probably less so to, say, meat. Nobody wants the "scavenged roadkill surprise"... – Darrel Hoffman Oct 27 '21 at 18:36
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    @DarrelHoffman - I went to a Chinese restaurant in Paris many years ago and the menu was a delight. I don't know what they called it in _French_, but the _English_ translation of _every item with pork_ was: "greasy pig meat". I might have tried their roadkill ... – davidbak Oct 27 '21 at 22:30
  • @davidbak Odd, given there is a French word for pork, it's just "porc", pronounced exactly the same. And it appears to be a pretty simple translation from Chinese as well - I wonder if they were just deliberately trolling English speakers - Paris has been known to do that sort of thing... – Darrel Hoffman Oct 28 '21 at 13:03
  • @DarrelHoffman Wild caught salmon. – user3067860 Oct 28 '21 at 13:37
  • @DarrelHoffman *there is a French word for pork, it's just "porc", pronounced exactly the same* → not sure what "exactly the same" refers to, but "porc" is pronounced [pɔʁ] (*por*, with a guttural "r") – WoJ Oct 28 '21 at 14:32
  • @DarrelHoffman: "And it appears to be a pretty simple translation from Chinese as well" - not sure what you mean by that. I think like some other languages, Chinese doesn't usually have a specific word for "meat of a pig that you eat", as English does with "porc", but the term is simply what would literally translate to "pig meat". – O. R. Mapper Oct 28 '21 at 17:04
  • @O.R.Mapper Right, but not *greasy* pig meat - pork is eaten commonly enough in China, so they definitely have common words for it, so translation is pretty straightforward. It's also not unusual in English to refer to a meat by the name of the animal it comes from, e.g. chicken, salmon, lamb, etc. We just make weird exceptions for cows, pigs, and some others. – Darrel Hoffman Oct 28 '21 at 17:11
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    @DarrelHoffman: I think I'm not getting your point. At least as far as I've observed in China (native speakers, please correct me if I'm wrong), 肥肉 (feirou), literally "fatty/greasy meat", *is* a common word. 肥猪肉 (feizhurou), literally "fatty/greasy pig meat" may not be quite as common, but simply adds the "zhu" = "pig" in the middle to specify the type of meat used. – O. R. Mapper Oct 28 '21 at 18:59
  • [Meat vs. Animal](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/1217/words-for-meat-differ-from-the-words-for-the-corresponding-animal) – Dennis Williamson Oct 30 '21 at 12:24
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If the menu actually provides descriptions of dishes, then I would just use the Italian name and describe it in English. This is very normal at least in the US for dishes from international cuisine, and even many ‘local’ dishes here in the US have associated descriptions on their menus unless they are something truly trivial and universally recognizable (and even then, they may still have such descriptions, a ‘cheeseburger’ sounds simple, but there’s enough variety that most places will explicitly list the toppings and the size of the patty)

Barring that possibility, I would go with the admittedly somewhat long ‘Field greens sautéed with garlic and chilli flakes.’. My reasoning here is as follows:

  • The generic term for leafy green vegetables foraged from a field is ‘field greens’ (you can add ‘foraged’ to the beginning and charge an absurd premium if they’re actually foraged, but this is not required). It’s also important at least with some dialects to not use the term ‘herbs’ as that implies stuff like dill, basil, chives, or oregano (that is, ‘herbs’ in the culinary/medicinal sense, not in the botanical sense).
  • ‘Cooked’ is very generic and potentially misleading, while ‘sautéed’ describes exactly how they are cooked (this matters, steamed or baked vegetables are still ‘cooked’, but they are very different from sautéed vegeetables).
  • ‘Sautéed’ implies the use of some type of fat, and most people will not care what exactly that fat is (if they do, they will want more specificity than ‘oil’ because they will probably be looking to avoid specific fats). Also, given that it’s Italian, it’s kind of implicit (at least in most parts of the US) that it’s oil (as opposed to lard or butter).
  • Garlic is kind of important as a flavor component here (I’m assuming this is some variation of erbe di campo, which I’ve made myself before a couple of times, and believe me, the presence or absence of garlic has a big impact on the flavor) so it’s worth mentioning. Calling it out also helps reinforce that this is not just some kale or chard tossed in a skillet for a bit and then served as-is.
  • It’s important to call out spicy (as in piccante, not speziato) flavors, as many people are sensitive to them, hence mentioning the chili. Additionally, calling out ‘chili flakes’ instead of just ‘chili’ is important in some dialects, as just ‘chili’ may imply ‘chili powder’, which is not just ground up dried chili pepper in some parts of the world (in the US, ‘chili powder’ is the name of the spice mix used as a base for chili con carne, and almost always includes at least cumin, garlic, and onion in addition to the ground chili peppers).
Austin Hemmelgarn
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Why not "herbe di campo?" If it has to be in English, "sauteed wild herbs" can also work...or "sauteed herbs." Much of this depends on the context of how the rest of the menu is written.

moscafj
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    I would not use "herbs", at least not in the US – Kevin Oct 27 '21 at 19:16
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    @Kevin Nor the UK. (We _pronounce_ the word differently, but it still refers mainly to flavourings.) – gidds Oct 28 '21 at 11:04
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    ***Erbe** di campo*. But yes, agreed - especially if this is a serious Italian restaurant, using the actual name of the dish is the right way to go. English doesn't care, certainly. Restaurants also serve *foie gras*, *pho*, *schnitzel*, *sushi*, and all kinds of other non-English dishes, keeping the native names because they're the most natural description of the dish. – J... Oct 28 '21 at 13:20
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Are you the chef? If not, have you asked the chef. I would call this dish "Seasoned Field Greens."

Crystal
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