List of misleading food names

Many foods have misleading names that purport to indicate either their origin or ingredients, or both, while actually doing neither. Some of these are cultural put-downs of a sort, while others are simply imaginative or muddled thinking. Foods named for famous places may have no connection with them. Some food names have been mistranslated from their original language. Many cuisines have fanciful names for dishes, but no one eating them is deceived. This list is a greyer area.
General
*Bear claw - Is an almond-flavored, yeast-raised pastry shaped in a large, irregular semicircle with slices around the outside, evoking the shape of a bear's claw
*Bombay duck - Is not duck at all, but dried fish. It is also known as Bummalo, which is a species of fish from Southern Asia, particularly abundant in the Ganges Delta and the Arabian Sea of western India.
*Colonial Goose - Actually lamb marinated in red wine, with dried apricots and honey added to regular stuffing, and then baked. This originated in New Zealand in the early 19th Century when goose was difficult to acquire, so cooks improvised.
*Cream crackers — Contain no cream, and are pale brown in colour.
*Hawaiian pizza - This version of pizza does not come from Hawaii at all. It is a pizza with toppings of pineapple and ham. The name probably came from the pineapples that grow in Hawaii, as well as the traditional place of pork in the native Hawaiian diet. See also Toast Hawaii.
*Head cheese - is a traditional sausage made from gelatin and beef or sheep head parts and contains no cheese.
*Hot Dog - This does not in actuality contain dog meat. A hot dog is a traditional meal with meat in between a piece of bread. Although it is not made with "dogs" the creator gave it this name because of its closeness in appearance to the dachshund (little dog).
*Jerusalem artichoke is unrelated to Jerusalem. It is a tuberous sunflower, with a daisy like flower, also unrelated to the globe artichoke which is part of the thistle family]]. "Jerusalem" is a corruption of the Italian girasole, meaning turning toward the sun (heliotropism)
*Mincemeat - Mincemeat was invented in the Middle Ages as a sweet, spicy mixture of chopped lean meat, (usually beef, or beef tongue), suet and fruit. Over time, the meat content was reduced, and today the mixture contains nuts, dried fruit, beef suet, spices and brandy or rum, but usually no meat.
*Oiseaux sans têtes - Literal translation 'birds without heads'. A Belgian dish consisting of sausage meat wrapped in slices of veal.
*Norwegian omelette - Is neither a Norwegian dish nor is it made from whole eggs. This French dessert, also known as Baked Alaska even though it is not an Alaskan dish either, consists of hard frozen ice cream on a bed of sponge cake, covered with uncooked meringue. It is kept in the freezer until serving time, when it is placed in a very hot oven, just long enough to brown the meringue.
*Refried beans are only fried once. Their English name comes from the Spanish word "refrito," where the "re-" is used for emphasis, not repetition.
*Scotch woodcock - This is not poultry at all. Instead, it is an egg mixture with anchovies on toast. Sometimes an anchovy paste is used.
*Spotted Dick, or Spotted Dog, is a steamed pudding made with dried fruits.
*Sweetbread - This is neither sweet, nor bread. It is a dish made up of the pancreas or the thymus gland of a calf or lamb. It is prepared in a variety of ways, including fried, sauteed or baked.
*Sweetmeat - An archaic word for confectionery, originating in a time when "meat" denoted food in general and not exclusively the flesh of animals.
*Swiss Wing - This was not invented in Switzerland, but possibly in Hong Kong. It is made with soy sauce and chicken.
*Toad in the hole - This does not contain toads. It is a traditional British dish made of sausage, or occasionally pork chops, cooked in Yorkshire Pudding. In Australia it is made with an egg, sometimes in place of the sausage, and a slice of bread.
*Vanillerostbraten - An Austrian dish which does not contain vanilla, but garlic (which is nicknamed "poor man's vanilla").
*Welsh rabbit or Welsh rarebit - Neither name describes what this food actually is. It is an open-faced toasted cheese sandwich, or a cheese sauce on buttered toast.

Canada
*Pâté chinois - (French, Chinese pie) is not Chinese in origin, and contains no Chinese ingredients. It is actually shepherd's pie.
*Beavertail or Queue de Castor - Fried dough sprinkled with sugar or other toppings. It is particularly popular in Ottawa, where it is sold in the Byward Market and, in winter, on the Rideau Canal.

China
*Ants Climbing a Tree - This is a Szechuan Chinese meal made with ground pork and vermicelli. It resembles columns of ants climbing along twigs.
*Gunpowder Tea - This is a Green tea from Guangdong. It does not contain gunpowder, but is made up of tea leaves, hand-rolled into tiny pellets that resemble gunpowder.
* - A dish with large pork meatballs, usually cooked in a clay pot or in a wok.
* - This unfortunate name is not a mis-translation. It is a Szechuan dish, often served cold, which is made of thinly-sliced beef, beef lung/stomach/tongue, and a generous amount of spices, including Szechuan Pepper.

Mexico
*Pico de gallo (Spanish, Rooster's Beak) contains neither roosters nor beaks. Pico de gallo is really a type of chile sauce.
*Carne de chango or Carne de mono (Spanish, Monkey Meat) is actually marinated, smoked pork.

South Africa
*Bunny Chow is actually a popular South African meal consisting of an emptied out half-loaf of bread filled with chips (french fries), curry, or meat—but never rabbit meat. The Afrikaans name for this dish, "Katkop", translates to "cat head".
*Monkeygland Sauce has nothing to do with monkeys or glands, but is a very popular South African sauce that usually consists of a marinade of fruit chutney, red wine (or tomato sauce), and hot sauce. It is mostly used to prepare the dish Monkeygland Steak.

Spain
*Agua de Bilbao ("water of Bilbao") is a Bilbao nickname for champagne or cava.
*Brazo de gitano means "Gipsy's arm", but is actually a cake roll.
* While most varieties of gazpacho are cold soups, gazpacho manchego ("La Mancha-style gazpacho") is a stew.

USA
*Ants on a log, or bugs on a log is a snack made by spreading peanut butter along the trough of a stalk of celery and placing raisins on the peanut butter.
*Beef olives, or veal olives, beef birds, veal birds have no olives and no birds, respectively.
*Biloxi bacon has no pork but is instead fried fillets from local popeye mullet in Biloxi, Mississippi.
*Boston cooler is a drink combining Vernors, a very strong regional ginger ale, with vanilla ice cream. It is served throughout southeastern Michigan, including Detroit, but is virtually unknown in the city of Boston.
*Boston cream pie and Washington pie are cakes, not pies.
*Buffalo wings are not made from buffalo, but are fried chicken wings coated in a hot pepper sauce. Named after the city of Buffalo, New York where the recipe originated.
*Caesar salad has no relation to the Caesars of Ancient Rome but is named for its creator, Caesar Cardini.
*Chinese chicken salad is unknown in China.
*Chicken fried steak is not made with chicken. It is similar to wiener schnitzel, but is made with a low-quality tenderized cut of beef instead of veal.
*City chicken is not made of chicken. It is veal, pork, or beef (or a combination thereof) that is tenderized, breaded, and fried. Often served covered in a heavily peppered white pan gravy.
*Duck sauce, a common condiment in Chinese restaurants in the United States, is not made from duck.
*Elephant ear is a deep fried thin pastry that is lightly coated in cinnamon sugar or powdered sugar. The name is derived from the final shape of the dough thought to resemble the ear of an elephant
*French fries probably originated in Belgium.
*French dressing is unknown in France.
*German chocolate cake is not a German torte but a wholly American layer cake deriving its name from Sam German, who invented the sweet baking chocolate in 1852.
*Hot dogs - meat, but not dog meat. Reputedly named for the sausage's resemblance to the shape of the dachshund.
*Italian dressing, a vinaigrette, is unknown in Italy, where oil and vinegar are usually served separately.
*London broil - unknown in London, or indeed the entire United Kingdom.
*Michigan hot dogs are unknown in Michigan; there, people eat Coney Island hot dogs, which do not come from Coney Island.
*Pigs in a blanket can be any one of a number of dishes where a sausage is wrapped in a quick bread. The sausages need not be made of pork.
*Puppy chow is peanut butter and chocolate covered cereal coated with powdered sugar. It is intended for humans.
*Rocky Mountain oysters, also known as "prairie oysters", are not oysters, nor are they from the Rocky Mountains, particularly. They are calf or bull testicles, which some people consider to be a delicacy. "Prairie Oyster" is also the name of a drink made of a raw egg yolk suspended in Worcestershire sauce, a folk hangover cure.
*Turtle candy or Turtles are a confection made with chocolate, caramel and nuts, usually pecans. They contain no turtle meat.

Cocktails
Cocktails have a long line of odd names with no particular reasoning behind the name. Some of the more common drinks include:
*Flaming Dr Pepper tastes like Dr Pepper but contains none.
*Long Island Iced Tea has no tea in it and is extremely alcoholic.
*Root-Beer Shooters taste like root-beer but contain none (they do, however, contain Coca-Cola and Vodka).
*Baby Guinness contains no Guinness.
*Moose Milk is a Canadian drink made with cow's milk, ice cream, and several types of alcohol.

Misleading brand names
This section contains commercial names of processed foods that are fancifully comparative, some of which could be considered very odd if taken at face value.

*Boston Baked Beans — Candy coated peanuts that may resemble baked beans made by Ferrara Pan Candy co.
*Chick-O-Stick — not a stick of chicken, or chicken on a stick, but a candy bar.
*Chicken of the Sea — a brand of canned tuna, famously confused for chicken by pop singer Jessica Simpson.
*Chock full o'Nuts (official capitalization) — This brand of coffee contains no nuts
*Goldfish Crackers A crispy bite size cheddar cheese cracker in the shape of a goldfish. Goldfish Crackers is a trademark of Pepperidge Farms Incorporated.
*Grape-Nuts — Cereal contains neither grapes nor nuts. (Its creator incorrectly thought that the baking process turned starch into "grape sugar".)
*Pocari Sweat — Contains no sweat; the misleading name is intended to indicate that it replaces electrolytes lost through sweating.
*Turkey Joints - A blend of chocolate and Brazil nuts covered with a sweet silvery coating formed to look like turkey bones. Made by Candyland and Nora's Candy shop in Rome, NY.
*Wienerschnitzel — American fast food chain that does not serve wiener schnitzel but specializes in hot dogs.

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