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The Food Chain

Factual: Food & Drink

Examining what it takes to put food on your plate

The Food Chain examines the business, science and cultural significance of food, and what it takes to put food on your plate.

The recipe translators

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The Food Chain: The recipe translators

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09/06/2022 GMT

BBC World Service - The Food Chain, The recipe translators

We speak to the people who translate recipe books into different languages

Many chefs reach global status, with international demand for their latest book. Spare a thought for the translators, tasked with making their recipes accessible across barriers of language, culture and cuisine.  

Translating a recipe isn’t as simple as getting the dictionary out, you need to understand the different terminology and ingredients used in each country, whilst staying true to the original dish.  

We speak to Rosa Llopis, a Spanish translator who specialises in gastronomy and has translated a number of cookbooks. Cristina Cigognini is an Italian translator who usually specialises in literary translation of novels, but brought her skills to two cook books published by the chef Yotam Ottolenghi. Nawal Nasrallah is an Iraqi living in the US who translates medieval Arabic food texts, bringing those historic recipes to new audiences.  

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email thefoodchain@bbc.co.uk. 

Presented by Ruth Alexander. 

Produced by Beatrice Pickup.

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