# The rules for capitalizing (food) dishes named for their inventor **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 2, 2025, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482 "2025-01-02T15:22:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/1 "2025-01-02T15:22:08Z")
Is it Oysters Rockefeller or oysters rockefeller or oysters Rockefeller? Is it Fettucine Alfredo or fettucine alfredo or fettucine Alfredo? …and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/2 "2025-01-02T15:25:06Z")
For sure (that is, in my non-expert experience) you don’t capitalize oysters or fettucine. Dunno about the proper names. I’ll bet the style guides vary, and it _might_ be different for different names – fettucine Alfredo but ceasar salad. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/3 "2025-01-02T15:26:58Z")
> [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > but ceasar salad. Caesar _was_ the guy’s proper name, he was just such a badass (in the eyes of other Romans at least) that they adopted his name as a title. And Wikipedia capitalizes the Caesar in Caesar Salad. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/4 "2025-01-02T15:27:54Z")
> [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > ceasar salad [Caesar Salad](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_salad) or Caesar salad as named after a person. The salad was created on July 4, 1924, by [Caesar Cardini](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_Cardini) at [Caesar’s](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar%27s) in [Tijuana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tijuana), Mexico. I prefer capitalizing both words but I believe the standard is Inventor’s name is capitalized. Not both. ETA: I was ninja’d. * * * * * * I’ll add a little more: **Proper Names, Trademarks & Brands should typically be capitalized. Generic Food names, not. That is the most basic rules.** ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/5 "2025-01-02T15:32:04Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > ETA: I was ninja’d. But I talked about the Caesar that Caesar was named after, not the Caesar after which Caesar Salad is named. So your answer is better. I’ll add another fun fact to make up for it. Caesarean sections are not named after Caesar, either. Caesar wasn’t born by C section because at the time such procedures were fatal and we know Caesar’s mom lived. It’s more likely that an ancestor of Caesar was born by caesarian section and named Caesar after the procedure (Caesar is from the Latin root that means “to cut”; and Caesar was named after said ancestor. And this is why Caesar salad is capitalized, but caesarean section is not. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/6 "2025-01-02T15:33:50Z")
IME, bananas foster me no ill will. Not even in New Orleans. ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/7 "2025-01-02T15:33:59Z")
I knew C/caesar salad was named for a chef, not the Roman emperor – but that’s what you get for submitting a post with a typo. **What\_Exit** : where is that citation from? And why should we trust a citation when the noun clause is inconsistent in grammatical number? ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/8 "2025-01-02T15:36:39Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Caesar _was_ the guy’s proper name, he was just such a badass (in the eyes of other Romans at least) that they adopted his name as a title. Actually, question: do you have to capitalize Caesar, the title? I assume no, because we don’t capitalize tsar or kaiser? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/9 "2025-01-02T15:37:42Z")
If you hover over my links, all 4 are Wikipedia. Or do you mean the the ETA part? That was a quick check, verifying rules I learned a long time ago. (too long) ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/10 "2025-01-02T15:51:01Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I’ll add a little more: > > **Proper Names, Trademarks & Brands should typically be capitalized. Generic Food names, not. That is the most basic rules.** Yeah, that was what I wanted to know the source for. Or the sauce, as the case may be. ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/11 "2025-01-02T15:58:05Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Actually, question: do you have to capitalize Caesar, the title? I assume no, because we don’t capitalize tsar or kaiser? If you refer to a particular titled individual, then the title is indeed capitalized: e.g. Queen Victoria, Kaiser Wilhelm. I don’t know how the Romans handled it: Caesar Nero? I’ve never seen that, what with the multi-named Romans and the various titles of the emperor. From Wikipedia: The [title](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Style_(manner_of_address)) of all Emperors preceding [Heraclius](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraclius) was officially "_[Augustus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_(honorific))_ ", although other titles such as _[Dominus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominus_(title))_ were also used. Their names were preceded by _[Imperator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperator) [Caesar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_(title))_ and followed by _Augustus_ . Following Heraclius, the title commonly became the Greek _[Basileus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basileus)_ (Gr. Βασιλεύς), which had formerly meant [sovereign](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch), though _Augustus_ continued to be used in a reduced capacity. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/12 "2025-01-02T16:02:52Z")
> [@Quondam\_Mechanic](#): > > I don’t know how the Romans handled it: Caesar Nero? I’ve never seen that, what with the multi-named Romans and the various titles of the emperor. From Wikipedia: > > The [title](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Style_(manner_of_address)) of all Emperors preceding [Heraclius](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heraclius) was officially "_[Augustus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_(honorific))_ ", although other titles such as _[Dominus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominus_(title))_ were also used. Their names were preceded by _[Imperator](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperator) [Caesar](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_(title))_ and followed by _Augustus_ I think their title was Augustus but their presumptive heir was a Caesar. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/13 "2025-01-02T16:05:00Z")
> [@Babale](#): > > Caesar is from the Latin root that means “to cut” Little known fact: that’s also why they’re called scissors. Okay, I’ll wander on back to the Dad Jokes thread now. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/14 "2025-01-02T16:06:48Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > Little known fact: that’s also why they’re called scissors. > > Okay, I’ll wander on back to the Dad Jokes thread now I hate to break it to you, but that’s not a dad joke; it’s an etymology lesson. The term Scissors does indeed come from the same Latin root as Caesar. **Scissors** _late Middle English: from Old French cisoires, from late Latin cisoria, plural of cisorium ‘cutting instrument’, from cis-, **variant of caes-, stem of caedere ‘to cut’**. The spelling with sc- (16th century) was by association with the Latin stem sciss- ‘cut’._ Emphasis mine. Caes there is the same as Caesar. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/15 "2025-01-02T16:13:34Z")
Haha, yeah I kinda knew that, but to your unsuspecting kid, it’s gonna be taken as a Dad Joke and receive the required eye-rolls. Good one to put money on tho! ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/16 "2025-01-02T16:55:30Z")
I think buffalo wings is ok but it’s of course a place and I’m shaky on articulating justification. Those little vienna sausages? ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/17 "2025-01-02T17:26:49Z")
I’d also suggest there’s an element of aging involved. e.g. and IMO: When it was first invented, it was the Caesar salad in honor of the restauranteur / chef who invented it. Now a full century later? It’s a generic caesar salad. Just as Xerox was once (still is?) a trade name for a type of copying machine but has long since become a generic word meaning “to make (or be) a photocopy of a paper”. See for more: > **[Generic trademark](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_trademark)** > > A generic trademark, also known as a genericized trademark or proprietary eponym, is a trademark or brand name that, because of its popularity or significance, has become the generic term for, or synonymous with, a general class of products or services, usually against the intentions of the trademark's owner. > A trademark is prone to genericization, or "genericide", when a brand name acquires substantial market dominance or mind share, becoming so widely used for similar products or services that... Note I’m not asserting that e.g. “Caesar salad” was ever formally a trademark or that recipe names need to be (or even can be registered as) trademarks. I’m arguing by analogy of mass customary usage here, not specifically about trademark law. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/18 "2025-01-02T17:50:23Z")
Proper nouns in English are always capitalized, even when they’re in a declined form or part of another compound term. The other words in the compound term are not capitalized, unless the compound term as a whole is also a proper noun. The “Buffalo” in “Buffalo wings” is the city, not the ungulate, so should be capitalized. The one exception (except it isn’t really English) is that the species (and subspecies) portion of an organism’s scientific name is never capitalized, even if it derives from a proper name (for instance, the owl-chewing louse Strigiphilia garylarsonis). This helps to distinguish the species from the genus, which is always capitalized. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/19 "2025-01-02T17:59:29Z")
I don’t know whatever rules might exist on this subject. It makes sense to capitalize all parts of the name of a unique dish with unique origin. It doesn’t matter if the dish has someone’s name in it or not, I think the name should follow the rules of proper nouns. I’m not sure what criteria makes the difference in every case but clearly ‘Buffalo Wings’ has an origin and a more unique definition than ‘tuna salad’. It’s clear that food dishes treated as proper nouns often don’t always follow a specific recipe, but certainly a particular style and some specific ingredients that distinguish them from generic names of dishes like ‘spicy chicken wings’. Being associated with a particular person, restaurant, or location is important. The rules wouldn’t always be hard and fast either since conventional use would be considered. Some would be tough to decide, for instance ‘London Broil’ is a dish that originated in London Ontario, so ‘London’ has to be capitalized, but there’s no known specific cut of beef for the dish and associated ingredients, nor is there any more specific style of cooking past the idea that broiling, IOW some cooking from direct high heat is involved. If I were writing or editing a cookbook I think ‘London broil’ would be confusing as if there were other ‘broils’ that differ only in the name of their origin. Just my opinion on the matter, again, no idea what rules or grammar have been applied over time. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2025, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482/20 "2025-01-02T19:18:50Z")
My old Chicago Manual of Style has nothing on the subject. Do what you like. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/u2IpqvvlT24/maxresdefault.jpg "Do What You Like") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2IpqvvlT24) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-rules-for-capitalizing-food-dishes-named-for-their-inventor/1012482.md?page=2)