What’s a better name for bacon and cabbage?

A few weeks ago, I wrote about poetry in food and how boring we are in the West when describing food we have eaten. I watched a Chinese movie on food and although the overall subtitles were kinda bad, I loved the way they spoke about the food as it was almost poetic.

Now, I am also thinking that we are rather unimaginative when it comes to naming dishes. When I lived in Turkey, I was amazed at the names of dishes I learned to cook or ordered in restaurants. For example, Women’s Thighs are meatballs with mince and rice formed to look like a woman’s thigh (it’s rather delicious to be honest).

Or what about the Imam Fainted which is a stuffed aubergine or a Woman’s Belly (also called belly button sometimes) which is a dessert with little pastry balls in sugar syrup (very sweet but again, ever so tasty) or another dessert, The Lips of the Belle is filo pastry with a nut filling.Obviously, they also have normal names like lentil soup etc but I love the fact that they got creative when naming a lot of the traditional dishes.

The same can also be said for other nations – I came across a Chinese TikTok creator who reviews Chinese restaurants in Dublin (and it looks really great so will follow his recommendations) and he introduced a dish called Squirrel Fish – the dish doesn’t contain squirrel (so don’t panic) but the fish is cooked and prepared to look like a squirrel with the mastering of knife skills that debones the fish and cuts the fish flesh so that it looks like it is blooming.

It is difficult to explain if you have never seen it, I only saw it on the TikTok video.

While looking for other examples of creative dish names, I came across one that is called Buddha Jumps Over The Wall – a rich dish with abalone, chicken, duck and mushrooms (I am sure other variations are available but this is the version I found). The mix is cooked with wine and herbs and it is said that Buddha would indeed jump over the wall to taste this dish.

Or what about jewelled rice? It looks beautiful with its colourful ingredients like pomegranate and other dried fruit and spices and tastes fresh, fragrant and comforting all at the same time.

Don’t you agree that these dish names sound so much more inviting than bacon & cabbage? How could we rename our national dish? A Farmer’s Delight - since all the ingredients come from a farm? Or A Warm Hug on a Cold Day?

Not sure to be honest – I am not the most creative person when it comes to naming dishes but I just love the idea of naming a dish rather than just listing the ingredients (which we need to cater for allergens etc).

I mean I have come across some ‘nice’ names for ingredients like sweetbreads which are neither sweet nor breads but the pancreas of a calf or lamb (we can mostly get the lamb version here). Sweetbread sounds so much better than just pancreas or offal – don’t you think?

I have never had Rocky Mountain Oysters and knowing that they are testicles of different animals, I think I will give it a skip in the future but wouldn’t you be tempted to try it if you just heard the name?