False friends: toast and marmalade

Today we have two false friends because they’re often found together. The English word marmalade sounds very similar to the Italian “marmellata”, but it actually refers only to jam made out of citrus fruits: oranges, lemons, grapefruit, cumquats, etc. “Marmellata” made out of other fruit is called jam, or jelly if all the solid parts of the fruit have been strained out. Jam, jelly and marmalade are generally eaten on toast, which is not what Italians call “toast”, but what they call “pane tostato”, usually with butter as well. If you find “toast” on a menu in Italy it generally means a toasted sandwich with ham and cheese inside, which wouldn’t taste very good with marmalade.

Foto di Calum Lewis su Unsplash