Let Them Eat...Cake?

Today we're gonna talk about cake.

Actually, this post is about language - cake just happens to be the funnest example I have for you.

So look up the word "cake" in any French-English dictionary and you'll find gâteau.  Pretty straightforward, right?

Except gâteau isn't used just for what we (meaning Americans) would think of as cake.  Here, everything is gâteau.  Or so it seems.

Chocolate cake?  Gâteau.

Pumpkin loaf?  Gâteau.

Oatmeal bars?  Gâteau.

Brownies?  Gâteau again.

Apple crumble/crisp?  That's right.  Gâteau.

The other day an African friend was talking about how another missionary had made banana bread.  "I don't know why you guys call it 'bread'.  It's really a cake!"

"And I don't know why you guys like to call everything 'cake'," I laughed in response.

I mean, to me there's a huge and obvious difference between cookie bars, crisps, and cakes.  In English, we have a distinct term for each.  We have separate sections in our cookbooks for them.  Here, one French word covers all those different categories.  You could literally translate pumpkin loaf and oatmeal bars into French, but it would sound weird and silly.  To them, it's gâteau.  (Although ironically you will occasionally hear the English word "cake" instead of gâteau.  I haven't yet figured out for sure when/why "cake" is used.  Not enough data on that yet.)

Incidentally - and I include this just to further mess with your mind - the phrase "let them eat cake" is the traditional translation of the French expression qu'ils mangent de la brioche.  But brioche actually refers to a lightly sweetened yeast bread, not cake.

Go figure.