Food is the most important expression of natural culture; food terms are subject to the widest variety of translation procedures. The expression “Chez l’Arabe”, not only is it necessary to take into account the origin, “Arab” but also the notion that “Chez l’Arabe” is a place that is always open and where you can find almost anything you are looking for. How can we maintain the cultural and geographic reference if our receivers do not have the prior cultural baggage or experience? We could translate this expression as “Turkish Delight” or even we could even paraphrase with the expression “Arab Turkish Delight” as bought in Turkish shops or stores that differ substantially from the shops with fixed opening hours, for example in France, England and Spain. Therefore, the reality of what an “Arab shop” is should be explained in the translation so that a cultural equivalent could be considered.
In Britain, “cream tea” is an afternoon meal consisting of tea to drink and scones with jam and clotted cream to eat. It can also include sandwiches and cakes. “Cream tea” has no equivalent on other cultures. For example an Italian translator may replace it with “pastry”, which does not have the same meaning (for one thing, cream tea is a meal in Britain, where as “pastry” is familiar to the Italian reader and therefore provides a good cultural substitute. Germans for example have “coffee and cakes.” The German translator could have used the strategy of cultural substitution.
