In a previous post I listed the 3 commonly used translations in Luxembourg for all the bad, bad grains for us with Celiac and eating gluten free. So I thought it might be helpful to also list grains, seeds and “starches” that remain an option for your baking and cooking needs and that are reasonably available here in Luxembourg. There are more “good grains” and such available if you really search but usually in very small quantities or by request for order in a shop. For the English speakers, I will list the same 3 languages like before. I will not go into details for usage but save that for future posts.

I don’t know about you but one of the most common questions I get is, “Well, what can you eat?”

French (Fr), German (Gr), Dutch (Dut)

I am not going to include articles like “la” and “le” to the French words because, generally speaking, you don’t see them on labels, probably due to lack of space on packaging.

Amaranth:   Fr: amarante   Gr: Amarant   Dut: amarant

Buckwheat:   Fr: sarrasin   Gr: Buchweizen    Dut: boekweit

Chestnut:   Fr: châtaigne   Gr: Kastanie    Dut: kastanje

Chickpeas:   Fr: pois chiche   Gr: Kichererbsen   Dut: kikkererwten

Coconut flour:   Fr: farine de noix de coco   Gr: Kokosmehl   Dut: kokosmeel

Corn/cornstarch:   Fr: maïs/amidon de maïs   Gr: Mais/Maisstärke   Dut: maïs/maïszetmeel

Flaxseed/linseed:   Fr: grains de lin   Gr: Leinsamen   Dut: lijnzaad   (The word flax is used to describe the flower and not the seed itself which is why I included linseed since it’s closer to what is translated.)

Millet:   Fr: millet   Gr: Hirse   Dut: gierst

Oats:   Fr: avoine   Gr: Hafer   Dut: haver

Potato:   Fr: pomme de terre   Gr: Kartoffel   Dut: aardappel

Quinoa:   Fr: quinoa   Gr: Quinoa   Dut: quinoa

Rice:   Fr: riz   Gr: Reis   Dut: rijst

Sesame/sesame seed:   Fr: sésame/grains de sésame   Gr: Sesam   Dut: sesam/sesamzaad

Tapioca starch:   Fr: amidon de tapioca   Gr: Tapiokastärke   Dut: tapiocazetmeel

Teff:   Fr: teff   Gr: Teff   Dut: teff

The terms below are general terms that are often combined with many of the above terms that will also appear on packaging. Sometimes it’s helpful to have some of these extra tips and if you know these basics then you can pretty much decipher the puzzle of words on an ingredient label. I found these 3 to be a bit confusing in the beginning.

The inclusive term for nuts, in French, was the hardest because there really isn’t one word like nuts that we use in English. In restaurants, the servers were confused when I tried to use a “one word” translation and so I’ve found it is best to know each individual nut by name.

I think starch is pretty straightforward and doesn’t need any additional explanation.

Flour, the way we English speakers use the term, was also a bit confusing. In French the word for flour is used when referring to the “flour of…” something like “farine de…”.  When referring to wheat and other grains specifically the grain is often named. Now… all that is explained from my experiences and the truth is, it’s French and there are so many exceptions! Just know these are the basics I’ve picked up that have been helpful while muddling through translations.

Nuts (inclusive):   Fr: arachide (catagorized for all nuts in general {but not always} or specific to peanut but peanut is specifically cacahoutète or cacahuète)   Gr: Nuss   Dut: noot

Starch:   Fr: amidon   Gr: Stärke   Dut: zetmeel

Flour meal/ground flour:   Fr: farine   Gr: Mehl Mahlzeit   Dut: meel