Czech sweettalk

Welcome to the ABC of Czech where this season we talk about Czech food and cuisine. We have spoken about sweet dishes and we have talked about junk food but we never looked at sweets as such.

The most important word in today's lesson is probably bonbon - from the French bonbon - meaning any kind of sweet or candy. It includes boiled sweets, drops, mints, jelly beans, toffees, caramels, chocolates, whatever you like.

Staying with the last one mentioned - chocolate in Czech is čokoláda. Milk chocolate is mléčná čokoláda and dark chocolate is hořká čokoláda or bitter chocolate. Chocolates are čokoládové bonbony and they usually come in a box bonboniéra. Those were typical bribes under communism, the smallest on the scale.

Typical Czech chocolates are for example rumové pralinky - rum pralines - filled with dark Czech rum. A type of bonboniéra that all Czechs remember with nostalgia is vánoční kolekce - "the Christmas collection". They were Christmas-themed chocolates on strings that could be hung on the Christmas tree. All parents with children under 15 used to get them as a Christmas bonus from their employer.

Other types of "bonbon" are toffees - karamely, gummy bears - gumové medvídky or mentolky - mints. The generation of our parents and grandparents fondly remember violets - fialky. There are many other candies loved by generations of Czechs but they are usually known by their brand names and difficult to describe. So you have to come here and try them.

A lollipop is lízátko - meaning something to lick. And finally chewing gum - žvýkačka which has become more of a means of oral hygiene than a sweet.

And that's it for today. Thanks for listening and till next time - dobrou chuť - bon apetit!