The Secret Life of a Foodie: Origin of “Tatashey”

I published this a while back, but deleted it for some reason so it’s back up now

At our first foodaholics anon meeting (refer to my About page), I told you that my very first word as an infant was “food”. But that was just the beginning of my many foodie secrets (hey, I think I’ll start a series on this). Like most foodaholics, I was initially reluctant to divulge personal information for fear of being judged. But now that we’ve gotten to know each other a little better I feel like I can open up a bit more so I hope you’re listening

 

 

 

 

I know some of you are wondering why I named this blog “Tatashey”, so I’m glad to tell you that today is your lucky day. For those of you who aren’t aware, Tatashey – originally spelt as ‘tatase’ – is the Yoruba name for “big red pepper”.

Tatase pepper

THE GIST: 

Back in high school, we had to study three languages – English, French and either Yoruba or Igbo. As you know, some of us are not very gifted in the language department – my politically correct way of saying I suck at foreign languages.

It all happened one hot day in my SS2 (11th grade) French class when I was called on to read an article aloud. I can’t even remember what the article was about but I do remember being anxious and wondering why out of all the people in class, I was chosen to read. Begrudgingly, I stood up and started reading. It didn’t take long before I started stumbling over all the words that I wasn’t familiar with – pretty much every word. And of course, people were chuckling, whispering to themselves and mocking me. But that’s okay because all mockers go to hell. But I kept on reading. As I drew near the end of the article, I came across the word tâtasse (/ta.tas/ meaning ‘touched’). At the time I had no idea what it meant, let alone how to say it. So I figured that since was spelt like the Yoruba word, tatase, it must be pronounced similarly. Right? Well anyway, there I was in front of class and since I couldn’t think of any other way to pronounce it, I blurted out ‘Tatashey’

The whole class – including my French teacher – burst out laughing and I never heard the end of it. People would walk past me and whisper “tatashey” then casually ask how much I like pepper. *sigh*. It was such a traumatic experience. And I’ve had nightmares about big red peppers ever since…I kid. It’s never that serious. I actually thought the word was kind of catchy, so I named my blog after it!

Now you know where I got this blog name. I hope you enjoyed my little story. Keep up with Tatashey on Twitter @tatasheybyabby; Facebook Instagram and Pinterest

Watch out for the next episode of The Secret Life of A Foodie – I’ll tell you about the first time I cooked for “bae”.

Tatashey