[Vocabulary] Kinds of side dishes

[Rona 12]

What would you generally call side dishes like barley, buckwheat or millet?
Thank you, Rona

 

[a_vee]

I don't generally eat side dishes like that. Do you mean you want to serve these grains as a little extra food with a main meal? If so, you might be able to say "a side of ____________" .

 

[SoothingDave]

Those would be "grains" or perhaps "starches." These are not common foods in the US. Some use barley in soups, but it is mainly used for making beer.

Buckwheat was grown in the US previously, but fell out of favor.

Millet is used for birdseed in the US.

 

[emsr2d2]

All three grains are used in the UK. They're more common within the health food market (we sell all of them where I work). However, I certainly wouldn't refer to any of them as a side dish. They are grains used for making bread, cakes, desserts, breakfast cereals etc.

Are you sure that you understand what a "side dish" is? Please tell us what you think it means.

 

[Rona 12]

All three grains are used in the UK. They're more common within the health food market (we sell all of them where I work). However, I certainly wouldn't refer to any of them as a side dish. They are grains used for making bread, cakes, desserts, breakfast cereals etc.

Are you sure that you understand what a "side dish" is? Please tell us what you think it means.

Ok, if you have a steak with mashed potatoes on a plate, what would you call potatoes? In some diets and also many Eastern Europian countries it is quite common to have millet, barley, buchwheat or others like this instead of potatoes. It´s not only much healthier than potatoes but it has also lot of important elements in it. I have read a word ´´kasha´´ somewhere but don´t know if it´s used. Thanks, Rona

Here is a proof that it´s possible. And it is not a picture I took.

 

[5jj]

If it's part of the main dish, it's not a side dish.

 

[SoothingDave]

I'd call it a "starch."

 

[emsr2d2]

If you have steak and mashed potatoes on the plate, then you're eating "steak and mash". There is no side dish. If you decided to make a little dish of salsa to have in a bowl alongside your steak and mash, it would be a side dish. The reason it's called a "side dish" is that the plate that it's on sits to the side of your main plate.

For example, when I go out for a curry for dinner, I usually order:

- Starter: Onion bhaji
- Main course: Vegetable korma with pilau rice
- Side dish: Bombay Aloo, Bhindi Bhaji and Mattar Paneer

The onion bhaji comes first. When that's finished, the korma and rice come together, either already on the plate or together on a tray ready for me to serve onto my plate. The three side dishes are brought at the same time as the main course but on a separate tray.

I'm sure you're right that millet etc is more healthy than mashed potatoes but if it comes as part of the main dish, then it isn't a side dish.

 

[SoothingDave]

Maybe this is an AmE/BrE difference. I have had "a side of fries" that is served on the same plate and one that is served on a separate plate. Either way it is a side dish. It's not the entree.

When you order a steak or a piece of chicken at a restaurant, you usually get a choice of sides. This could include potatoes, rice, vegetables, applesauce, etc. It's all side dishes.

Now, with something like chicken Parmesan, which would be served on top of spaghetti all as one entree, you typically do not get a choice of sides, since the spaghetti is incorporated into the entree.

 

[charliedeut]

Now, with something like chicken Parmesan, which would be served on top of spaghetti all as one entree, you typically do not get a choice of sides, since the spaghetti is incorporated into the entree.

Just as a side comment :roll:: I would always choose "are" to go with spaghetti (probably influenced by my mother tongue).

 

[Rona 12]

If you have steak and mashed potatoes on the plate, then you're eating "steak and mash". There is no side dish. If you decided to make a little dish of salsa to have in a bowl alongside your steak and mash, it would be a side dish. The reason it's called a "side dish" is that the plate that it's on sits to the side of your main plate.

For example, when I go out for a curry for dinner, I usually order:

- Starter: Onion bhaji
- Main course: Vegetable korma with pilau rice
- Side dish: Bombay Aloo, Bhindi Bhaji and Mattar Paneer

The onion bhaji comes first. When that's finished, the korma and rice come together, either already on the plate or together on a tray ready for me to serve onto my plate. The three side dishes are brought at the same time as the main course but on a separate tray.

I'm sure you're right that millet etc is more healthy than mashed potatoes but if it comes as part of the main dish, then it isn't a side dish.

Ok, emsr2d2, I know what you like to eat, where you work and what a side dish is. So what do you call millet etc that sits next to steak and vegetables on the plate in the UK? Ask at work

 

[Rona 12]

I'd call it a "starch."

Thank you for the direct answer.

 

[SoothingDave]

Just as a side comment :roll:: I would always choose "are" to go with spaghetti (probably influenced by my mother tongue).

Yes. In English "spaghetti" is a collective noun treated like a singular noun. Like hair. My hair is brown. The spaghetti is ready to eat.

Unlike hair, you can not have "a spaghetti." You would say "a piece of spaghetti."

 

[Tdol]

How about accompaniment? It's used in BrE.

 

[emsr2d2]

Ok, emsr2d2, I know what you like to eat, where you work and what a side dish is. So what do you call millet etc that sits next to steak and vegetables on the plate in the UK? Ask at work

The reason some of us are finding it hard to answer your question is that we have never seen millet listed on a menu as a side dish. It's an ingredient in many other foods (although as I learnt to my cost ten years ago, many supermarkets consider it to be bird food so they don't sell it in the regular food aisle!) but it is rarely seen as a dish on its own.

I can only repeat what I said earlier. For me (in BrE and mainly south-east based), if you have a steak and vegetables and a pile of millet all on one plate, then you're eating "steak, millet and veg" with no side dish. If you ordered "steak and veg" and the waiter then asked you if you would like anything to go with it, and you looked at the menu and discovered "millet" under "side dishes" and chose to order it, then the millet would be your side dish and the steak and veg would be your main dish.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I'll have a steak, mashed potatoes, and green beans. And a side of millet for my goat. :roll:

 

[Rona 12]

I'll have a steak, mashed potatoes, and green beans. And a side of millet for my goat. :roll:

Good for your goat.

 

[MikeNewYork]

I love goats!

 

[Rona 12]

I love goats!

Sure, that is why you feeding it with such a good side.