23 Comments
'Enjoy your meal' is a bit of a flawed translation as this is more like the French 'bon appetit' - something you say to other people at your table when they are about to eat, not just something a waiter would say to you in a restaurant as they hand you your order. We don't have an equivalent phrase for this in English but Romanians and Moldovans say this all the time!
Quite so. I tried "Good appetite" and got marked wrong! Maybe I should try "Good eatin'!" or "Dig in!"
Honestly, if bon appetit isn't accepted, it probably should be. Maybe it's a regional thing, but no one I know says "dig in", though I'm aware it wouldn't be unusual. I probably hear "bon appetit" much more than "dig in", which I've definitely heard much, much more than "good eatin'".
This to me is their equivalent of bon appetit and buen provecho from Spanish.
840
It is a very sad indictment of the state of British cuisine, in the post war era, that the only true expression we have for poftă bună is bon appetit. Fortunately, things have greatly improved in recent years. Having travelled in Romania I found the food to be truly excellent!
Just "Enjoy" should also be accepted, however this is a complicated phrase with no direct translation to English. Like the Japanese say Itadakimasu to themselves to eating, the French say "Bon Appetit" to someone who'll eat, which is directly translatable to Romanian (Italian, Portuguese, German and other languages as well).
In Spanish, the most used expression would be "Buen provecho!" which has the same meaning, but with different wording as "provecho" means "advantage", "gain", "profit"...
In English, I believe that "Enjoy", "Enjoy your meal" or the widely spread loan "Bon Appetit" should all be accepted, despite the direct translation being "Good apetite".
"Enjoy your food" seems perfectly acceptable, in fact that's how Romanian natives translated it to me.
actually, a mot-a-mot translation means:
"(have a) good appetite" , which is close to the french expression "bon apetit"
- 840
The issue is that it is rare to hear a native English speaker say "Enjoy your meal". For decades, in the aftermath of the Second World War, food was rationed in the UK and British cuisine plumbed new depths of tastelessness. Food wasn't remotely enjoyable so no one ever suggested anyone should try! "Enjoy your meal" is used, but usually not a person who is eating with you. Normally, a waiter would say this having brought your meal to the table.
In modern Britain, we probably say "Bon appétit" (from the French) more than anything else. We even pronounce it exactly as the French do. However, despite British cuisine regaining much of its former glory, it is still not an ingrained tradition to wish someone an enjoyable meal, like it is in so many neighbouring countries. But then, it is also no longer so traditional to sit down and eat a meal together as a family - many people eat on the go.
Personally, I really wish that we could regain a more Mediterranean or Scandinavian style existence where sharing good food is the ultimate social interaction.
My experience of food in Romania was extremely good. The country is very agricultural and that means fantastic produce and people that haven't forgotten excellent, traditional cooking. Highlights for me were sarmale cu mămăligă şi smântână, ciorbă de burtă, mititei or mici and papanași.
Other expressions you might hear in the English speaking world are:
Bon appetit Enjoy your meal Enjoy Dig in Grub up Let's eat Eat up
I recall (from many years ago) hearing relatives saying something more like "poftim" and without the buna. Is that a variation?
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Poftim is used more like "Here you are" or "Here you go" when you hand something to someone.
More common in some parts of the US is "Hearty Appetite". This an all other expressions that re used to express this sentiment should be accepted
