Words at the table
Mexican Spanish sounds different from the Spanish of Spain – and many of the key kitchen words are not Spanish at all but come from Nahuatl. Both are here, with a pronunciation hint that follows the sound.
How to read it
- x
- No single sound: „México“ is „Meh-hee-ko“, „Oaxaca“ is „Wa-ha-ka“, „xocolatl“ is „sho-ko-latl“.
- z, c (before e, i)
- A plain s – Spain's lisped „th“ does not exist here.
- ll
- Like y in „yes“.
- j
- The throaty sound of Scottish „loch“, softer than in Spain.
- -tl
- A Nahuatl sound at the end of a word: tongue to the palate, air out the sides.
At the restaurant
| Spanisch | Say it like | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| ¿me regala la carta? | meh reh-ga-la la kar-ta | The menu, please. Literally „would you gift me“ – in Mexico the perfectly ordinary polite request. |
| ¿pica mucho? | pee-ka moo-cho | Is it very hot? The country's most important question – and the answer tends to be milder than the salsa. |
| ¿con todo? | kon toh-doh | „With everything?“ What you get asked at the taco stand: onion and coriander, or not. |
| ¿me da la cuenta, por favor? | meh da la kwen-ta por fa-vor | The bill, please. |
| estuvo delicioso | es-too-vo deh-lee-syoh-so | It was delicious. |
At the table
| Spanisch | Say it like | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| buen provecho | bwen pro-veh-cho | Enjoy your meal – said in passing to other tables as well. |
| el antojito | el an-to-hee-to | Literally ‚little craving‘: what you eat in between, standing, from the street. Not a starter course. |
| la botana | la bo-tah-na | What comes with the drink, unasked – peanuts, chicharrón, a small soup. |
| ¡Salud! | sa-lood | Cheers. Said with the glass in hand and eye contact. |
Words from Nahuatl
| Spanisch | Say it like | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| el comal | el ko-mal | The flat clay or iron griddle for baking tortillas and toasting chillies. From ‚comalli‘. |
| el molcajete | el mol-ka-heh-teh | The volcanic stone mortar. From ‚molcaxitl‘ – literally ‚vessel for sauce‘. |
| el mole | el mo-leh | From ‚molli‘, sauce. Not one recipe but a whole family: poblano, negro, verde, amarillo. |
| el elote | el eh-lo-teh | The fresh corn cob, from ‚elotl‘. The dried one has another name. |
| el guacamole | el gwa-ka-mo-leh | From ‚ahuacamolli‘ – avocado and sauce in one word. |
| el tamal | el ta-mal | From ‚tamalli‘. The plural is ‚tamales‘, never ‚tamals‘. |
Ingredients and moves
| Spanisch | Say it like | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| la masa | la mah-sa | Dough from nixtamalised corn. Not flour and water – without nixtamal there is no tortilla. |
| el nixtamal | el neesh-ta-mal | Corn cooked and steeped in lime water. This is what makes it digestible and gives the flavour. |
| tatemar | ta-teh-mar | Charring on the comal – tomatoes, chillies, onions, garlic. The blackened patches are the point. |
| el epazote | el eh-pa-so-teh | A herb with a strong, almost medicinal scent. It goes with beans – one sprig is enough. |
| el piloncillo | el pee-lon-see-yo | Unrefined cane sugar in a cone. You chip it off rather than spoon it. |