What’s In a Name?

Countdown to Beijing: 2 days
Visitors to the Beijing Olympics won’t have any trouble finding their favorite dish of Kung Pao Chicken or Mapo Tofu at local restaurants. A booklet, Chinese Menu in English Version, contains a list of over 2,000 proposed names for dishes and drinks that it recommends restaurants use during the 16 day event (source: The official website of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games). Jointly published by The Beijing Tourism Association and the Beijing Muncipal Government’s Foreign Affairs Office, the booklet is designed both to prevent visitors from struggling with English translations of their favorite dishes, and to make the names themselves are a little more appetizing. So, for example, “chicken without sexual life” becomes “steamed pullet,” while “husband and wife’s lung slice” is transformed into “beef and ox tripe in chili sauce.”

While some approve of the revamped English language menu, others point out the literal translations lack color and don’t give any cultural background. In the China Daily newspaper, columnist Raymond Zhou wrote: “It turns a menu into the equivalent of plain rice, which has the necessary ingredients but is devoid of flavor.” What do you think?

Chinese Recipe Name Origins
More Chinese Recipe Name Origins