English-French translations for foodstuffs, products and ingredients
I’ve covered the basic vocabulary to describe vegans and vegan food, remembering that végétarien = vegetarian and végételien = vegan; so, try to stick with végane. The other two important words to add to your vocab are la viande (meat) and le poisson (fish), so you know the basics to avoid. In the tables below I’ve listed some common and not-so-common ingredients you might come across or be searching for, and I’ll update these as more com up in my research. Some other terms you might come across are:
Les féculants – starchy foods
L’oleagineux – oils, generally derived from nuts or vegetables
The translations here have been checked in Collins French-English and Le Robert de Poche 2013 dictionaries, but are not infallible. Do let me know if there are any errors, or if you’d like me to add a product.
I’d also like to thank the wonderful Arielle from Farplace France for her help with proofreading all the tricky accents and article agreements. Check out their page for details of vegan events in France.
As my research I’ll be posting regularly with more details abut specific items so look out for links through to these posts.
This page looks at common names for fruit. You can use the search tool in the header to find other products or check out the pages for vegetables, herbs & spices, general groceries, oils & vinegar and rice, cereals and pulses.
Fruit (des fruits)
| Apples | La pomme |
| Apricot | L’abricot |
| Bananas | La banane |
| Blackcurrant | Le cassis |
| Blueberry | La myrtille |
| Cherry | Le cerise |
| Clementine | La clementine |
| Coconut | La noix de coco |
| Cranberry | La canneberge |
| Currant | La groseille |
| Dates | La datte |
| Elderberry | La baie de sureau |
| Fig | La figue |
| Gooseberry | La groseille à maquereau |
| Grape | Le raisin |
| Grapefruit | Le pamplemousse |
| Kiwi | Le kiwi |
| Lemon | Le citron |
| Lime | Le citron vert |
| Lychee | Le litchi |
| Mandarin | La mandarine |
| Mango | La mangue |
| Melon | Le melon |
| Orange | L’orange |
| Papaya | La papaye |
| Passion fruit | Le fruit de la passion |
| Pear | La poire |
| Pineapple | L’ananas |
| Plum | La prune |
| Pomegranate | La grenade |
| Raspberry | La framboise |
| Rhubarb | La rhubarbe |
| Strawberry | La fraise |
| Watermelon | La pastèque |