What did Terry Pratchett mean by "avec"?

Question

Terry Pratchett used in his disc world novels the word "avec" as a common food ingredient for french (in his books named "quirmian" or "Quirm" for the country) food.

Excerpt from "Snuff" by Terry Pratchett:

Say what you like, the food in the Quirm Watch House canteen was pretty damn good, even if they did use a shade too much avec, thought Vimes; avec on everything.

I suspect that it means "garlic", deriving from an ellipsis on the french wording "avec ail" - "with garlic".

Is this correct? Thanks in advance & GNU Terry Pratchett :-)

Edit: Of course I'm aware that "avec" is the french word for "with", but that knowledge alone didn't help me here ;-)

davidlol · Accepted Answer

Terry Pratchett often used wordplay.

The word "avec" is mistaken by an English-speaker to be an ingredient. The failure of the Anglophone to realise that avec is not an ingredient, but just means "with", is the joke here.

Other times, for example when Vimes asks for a bacon sandwich without any avec, he means he just wants a bacon sandwich, no mayonnaise, lettuce or other complications. In this case without any avec, (without any with), is at the same time a humorous turn of phrase, a possible failure to understand that avec is not an ingredient, and as Dan Bron says, a typically British dismissal of the fussiness of French food, even in a canteen.

user233802 · Answer

I think it probably means any type of garnish,spice,seasoning,or side dish. Because in Ankh-Morpork a meal is the food put in front of you, they're probably not used to the idea of having, say, steak with(avec) mashed potatoes, or parsley, or bearnaise sauce. Even in more upper-class homes, they'd probably just serve the steak first and potatoes later. So when a Quirmian chef suggests putting something other than meat on the plate with the meat, it's seen as a strange, foreign idea.

Answered by user233802 on October 4, 2021

Irv B · Answer

I think avec must be an actual condiment. In Pratchett's book, "Mrs Bradshaw's Handbook to Travelling Upon the Ankh-Morpork & Sto Plains Hygienic Railway" (p.55), the description of Globerry's Cafe says "Traditional and substantial Ankh-Morpork cooking for those missing a taste of home who want food without avec or garlic." If avec means "with" then you would get the construction "food without with" which makes no sense. Also, Quirm exports "fancy foods with Avec, wine, art, education, dodgy seafood produce." Once again, Avec stands alone as an item.

Answered by Irv B on October 4, 2021

What did Terry Pratchett mean by "avec"?

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