No, this really is a new French product

Does anyone sound more attractive than a French person talking about something they love? Take food, for example. Dine with a group of French people and you can be entertained for an entire evening just by listening to those smooth accents discussing whether that tarte tartin was properly caramelised or whether the pastry was overcooked. The conversation really can last all night.

In more private settings away from the dinner table, pillow talk in French is the stuff movies are made of. We love the French! We adore their language, we love their food, and we want to hear them whisper sweet nothings in our ears when the lights go down.

French food product called Ball in Box.So how on earth does a product called “Ball In Box” ever get launched? Here it is, pictured. Ball. In. Box. Apologies if it’s just me, but a delightfully tasty chicken dumpling isn’t the first thing that springs to mind when I read these words. Were they trying to mix the dinner talk with the pillow talk?

In a world where the internet is making everything accessible and where the French are so worried about the intrusion of English words in the French language that they created a board of “immortals” to invent new French words to match new English words, how did a product get called “Ball In Box”?

French food product called Ball in Box.In a company as big as Fleury Michon, how did nobody stop to ask a native English speaker if there my be any detrimental meaning to a product called “Ball In Box”?

Ball In Box.

I visited the Fleury Michon website for an image to go with this blog entry. As if to reassure customers, the text next to the image has a headline that reads: “Ball in box : 100% balls”. Total reassurance there, Fleury Michon. I’m totally reassured that I will never ever buy it.

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About

I'm a technical author, journalist and writer from Australia who has been living in Europe since 2000 and exploring the world from there. My passions are writing, snow sports and travel.

5 Comments on “No, this really is a new French product

  1. I expect to have them for dinner next time I see you!!

    I’d be complaining that there are no veggie balls!

  2. Sally, I’m actually rather pleased the veggie balls don’t exist! I’ll have the meaty version in stock for you – I’d love to know whether they’re any good!

  3. Honestly, Wendy I would rather eat steak tartare (& that’s saying something) than eat those. They are what J calls ‘mystery meat’!

  4. I have a horror of ‘mechanically reclaimed meat’. These look as if they might be of that ilk!
    Kangaroo ears, pig’s nose and the squeek!