Measurement charts vary around the world, after 20 plus years in the U.S, I have not yet made the full transition from metric system.
Things would be simpler if we all used the same system but we don't.
Yesterday, David Lebovitz mentioned an ongoing conversation on BBC Food Message Board started by Dan Lepard wondering if recipes can get lost in translation, not just because of measurements but also because of different terms (words) used for some ingredients.
Dan Lepard ponders the question and gives a couple of examples to get the conversationn going:
"I’m starting to wonder. If I read a recipe on a blog in the US, I haven’t thought to write and ask “a stick of butter, what’s the heck's that?” or “superfine sugar, surely you mean caster sugar?” because…they don’t mean anything else. Those bloggers in the US are writing – I imagine – for people in the US and use the words and terms they know.
So here on bbc.co.uk – the clue is in the url – we write for people in the UK and use the terms that people in the UK understand.
The million dollar/pound/yen/euro question:
Should recipes here offer translations, the way we do with temperatures:
i.e. 180°C/160°C fan/350°F/gas 4
so writing:
350g/2 US cups cornflour (cornstarch, maize starch, maicena)
Or…is it up to the reader to decipher the recipe for their own needs?"
As far as cookbook authors are concerned, some take extra step to help with measurements.
I just received a copy of The Gluten-Free Asian Kitchen (Celestial Arts, published August 23) whose back cover shares Measurement Conversion Charts with U.S / Imperial/ Metric for Volume and Fahrenheit/ Celsius for Temperature (picture below).
I noted that while U.S and Imperial measures are the same for Weight, they differ for Volume.
Food.com offers a Measurement Converter online.
There is also an International English Food Terms page on Wikipedia which covers U.S, Canada, UK and Australia.
The sticking point in 'lost in translation' recipe debate might be more about terms used for ingredients than measurements.
Books usually get adapted to reflect each country's standards. Online only recipes is another matter. Their audience is potentially global yet they are often written with home country in mind.
Some authors and publishers want to make our life easier
Reminds me of a visit to Montreal where i was looking for a laundromat. Even though we were theorically using the same language (French), it took me a half hour to find someone who understood what i was looking for. The problem was I was using word 'lavomatique' and Quebecois go by the term 'buanderie'.
Good thing as David Lebovitz pointed is that, when in doubt, we can ask our global community for help.
Most of the time things get sorted out.