A rose by any other name...

We've talked a lot about the tastes of home that we're missing, but something that's becoming increasingly apparent is the number of things that are actually available, under different names. So, a short post this lazy Sunday morning, of our discoveries to date -- and locals, and aficionados of all things British, please weigh in with comments to help us out:

• Eggplant = aubergine: we haven't found pickled eggplant yet, a favourite in our antipasti trays, but we're more hopeful now than we had been.
• Turnip = swede (among other names, like neeps, of course): the interesting thing here is that they call really small swedes, turnips. What we'd normally buy is a swede.
• Corn starch = cornflour: took a while to hunt that one down, as their grocery store aisles aren't always organized as you'd expect either.
• Canola oil = rapeseed oil: well, not really, according to the Canola Council of Canada, but it's pretty close.
  

  Canola is not rapeseed. It looks the same on the outside but it’s very different on the inside where it matters. In the late 1960s, plant scientists used traditional plant breeding methods to get rid of rapeseed’s undesirable qualities – erucic acid and glucosinolates. That means canola oil and meal are different from rapeseed oil and meal.

• Dish soap = wash-up liquid: not a taste we were missing, obviously, :-) but pretty darn confusing, nonetheless.

Well, that's it for now. I'll comment on others as we find them; feel free to do the same, as I said.