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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.

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Sun 12 Jun 2022 07:32GMT

Broadcasts

  • Thu 9 Jun 2022 03:32GMT
  • Thu 9 Jun 2022 04:32GMT
  • Thu 9 Jun 2022 10:32GMT
  • Thu 9 Jun 2022 21:32GMT
  • Sun 12 Jun 2022 07:32GMT

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