# Too Rich (Flavor)



## RhoKappa

In English, the flavor "rich" means containing a large amount of butter, oil, eggs or cream.  Sometimes, when I visit a fancy restaurant I am served an entree that is too rich in flavor, that the flavor of butter or oil is overpowering and ruins the taste of the food.  Try eating a bowl of red borscht with a whole stick of butter melted in and you will understand what is meant by a dish that is too rich.  A quick search in the dictionary shows the word насы́щенный, but I do not know if this is this adjective is accurate.  Как сказать по-русски?


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## Vovan

Новый большой англо-русский словарь:


> питательный; жирный; сдобный; сочный
> 
> ~ food - жирная пища
> 
> ~ milk {cream} - жирное молоко {-ые сливки}
> 
> ~ cake - кекс с фруктами
> 
> ~ dough - сдобное тесто
> 
> ~ fruit - сочные фрукты


As you see, RhoKappa, the choice of the right word will depend on what in particular you call rich.

I like "сытный" when speaking about a dish or a meal. It's "approving" as to its connotation. It means "such that easily satisfies your hunger".
_сытный завтрак
очень сытный суп_​But I'm not quite sure whether it could be thought of as a counterpart of "rich".

If you're talking specifically about oil/butter..., then "жирный" is a good option. It's often disapproving, though. If you're full and looking for the right word to convey that without offending your hosts, you _can_ say "сытный" instead:
_Спасибо, очень вкусно! Очень сытный борщ. Я наелся._​
"Тяжёлая пища" also exists in Russian: this sort of food might give someone a heavy feeling in the stomach. It's more than just "full", sort of. Mashed potatoes + fried cabbage + bread +... may be considered "тяжёлая пища".
_Для меня жареное мясо - тяжёлая пища._​


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## Sobakus

It does sound like you specifically mean "too much fat", in which case you would ask if it's "не слишком жирный" or, as applies to butter or oil, "не слишком масляный", or, more straightforward, "в нём/ней не слишком много масла/жира/яйца́/сливок/...". There's really no need to look for a euphemism such as "rich" in this case, and it doesn't seem like Russian has an unambiguous one here.


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## Rosett

In Russian, we'd normally say: "Кашу маслом не испортишь," - which means that no rich flavour can be too rich. But there's an expression "(будет) слишком жирно", that can be used only negatively and often figuratively: "Берёшь много, (а) не будет ли (тебе) слишком жирно?". This is a sarcastic remark, which can be translated back to English as "way too nice/a bit grand for (you.")


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## RhoKappa

Vovan said:


> Новый большой англо-русский словарь:
> 
> As you see, RhoKappa, the choice of the right word will depend on what in particular you call rich.
> 
> I like "сытный" when speaking about a dish or a meal. It's "approving" as to its connotation. It means "such that easily satisfies your hunger".
> _сытный завтрак
> очень сытный суп_​But I'm not quite sure whether it could be thought of as a counterpart of "rich".
> 
> If you're talking specifically about oil/butter..., then "жирный" is a good option. It's often disapproving, though. If you're full and looking for the right word to convey that without offending your hosts, you _can_ say "сытный" instead:
> _Спасибо, очень вкусно! Очень сытный борщ. Я наелся._​


I guess that сытный refers to a sense of being full, given that сыт means you are full and you cannot eat any more.  The English adjectives in this case would be either hearty or filling.  I suppose that жирный would be appropriate.

Here is a very clear example.  You are at a Russian restaurant and order бефстроганов.  The sauce that comes with it has too much butter, cream and smetana.  The sauce is so concentrated in fat that when you taste it you do not like it, thus you tell your host, "The sauce is too rich."  I suppose you do not want to offend your host so you can say сытный, but after you leave their house you tell your spouse, "That sauce was too rich!"

Too rich means too much butter, oil, egg yolks or cream.   Some hot toast would be very delicious with fresh butter, but only in small amounts.  Too much butter on the toast would not taste good because the fat flavor would be excessive, hence the toast would be too rich.  I hope this makes sense now.


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## RhoKappa

Let me make it clear that "rich" is often a positive connotation, like a бефстроганов sauce with the right amount of smetana.  Beef stroganof with rich cream sauce.  "Too rich" is undoubtedly a negative connotation, that the person eating the stroganof does not like the sauce because it has too much cream, and the noodles have too much butter in them.  It is too rich.


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## Maroseika

RhoKappa said:


> The sauce is so concentrated in fat that when you taste it you do not like it, thus you tell your host, "The sauce is too rich."  I suppose you do not want to offend your host so you can say сытный, but after you leave their house you tell your spouse, "That sauce was too rich!"


I don't think we can say сытный about a sauce. It is usually said about a dish. But жирный fits good, I think.
If you mean 'rich' in a positive sense, you can call it (очень) густой.


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## Rosett

Maroseika said:


> I don't think we can say сытный about a sauce. It is usually said about a dish. But жирный fits good, I think.
> If you mean 'rich' in a positive sense, you can call it (очень) густой.


Густой translates as "thick" in the given case.


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## Vovan

RhoKappa said:


> The sauce is too rich."


Соус жирнова́т(ый).
If it's about oil (and only oil) in a salad, words like "жирный" are not likely to be used. You just say "ма́сла многова́то".

Сли́шком жи́рный, сли́шком мно́го ма́сла (respectively) also work.

But I still don't get one thing: you talk about egg yolk (among other things). What would you say about basic biscuit dough (when it's been baked)? It's like 10 eggs + 1 cup of sugar + 1 cup of flour. And you get a piece of most typical biscuit cake. Is it "rich"? I mean it looks like there's egg and egg in this respect: perception (and probably digestion, too) will depend on the quality of yolk...


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## Xavier61

Rosett said:


> Густой translates as "thick" in the given case.


The point is not the literal meaning, but the positive sense (in Russian), if I am correctly understanding Maroseika.


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## Xavier61

RhoKappa said:


> Let me make it clear that "rich" is often a positive connotation, like a бефстроганов sauce with the right amount of smetana.  Beef stroganof with rich cream sauce.  "Too rich" is undoubtedly a negative connotation, that the person eating the stroganof does not like the sauce because it has too much cream, and the noodles have too much butter in them.  It is too rich.


The problem is that the concept of a "too rich food" is alien to Russian, (they have a harsh climate and need the calories), as Rosett said "Кашу маслом не испортишь" . You never can  put too much smetana in borsch (well, maybe if you put ALL the smetana that is available in the house and leave nothing for other people)

I like Vovan's "тяжёлая пища".

Для меня это - тяжёлая пища

Note that good manners require " для меня". The problem is not on the food that your host offered to you, the only problem is that you are not used to it.


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## Rosett

"Тяжёлая" пища has a connotation that is quite different from the topic overall since it has probably nothing to do with flavor. This kind of food refers to difficult digestion (long and, sometimes, painful, leading to constipation,) and it could be, for example, just corn. If someone eats corn only, it can form a so-called "corn puck" that is felt pretty heavy in the digestion tract. Also, a variety of starchy junk food or just spaghetti falls under the description of "тяжёлая" пища, or it could be just a large quantity of feast meal stretching the stomach and overloading the entire digestion system.
"Too rich," as I understand it, is talking about flavor, and it refers predominantly to overwhelmingly tasty, concentrated food that needs some sort of thinning in order to be consumed comfortably solo, for example (if not talking just about fatty meals): condensated milk, liquid jam, tomato paste, salty dried fish (that goes well with beer,) etc.


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## lectrice

Вариант - _too rich (for me) - слишком калорийно (для меня)_


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## Budspok

an entree.... is overpowering and ruins the taste of the food.=
закУска... очень насЫщенная и забивАет / перебивАет вкус основнОго блЮда.


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## Xavier61

Rosett said:


> "Тяжёлая" пища has a connotation that is quite different from the topic overall since it has probably nothing to do with flavor. This kind of food refers to difficult digestion (long and, sometimes, painful, leading to constipation,) and it could be, for example, just corn. If someone eats corn only, it can form a so-called "corn puck" that is felt pretty heavy in the digestion tract. Also, a variety of starchy junk food or just spaghetti falls under the description of "тяжёлая" пища, or it could be just a large quantity of feast meal stretching the stomach and overloading the entire digestion system.
> "Too rich," as I understand it, is talking about flavor, and it refers predominantly to overwhelmingly tasty, concentrated food that needs some sort of thinning in order to be consumed comfortably solo, for example (if not talking just about fatty meals): condensated milk, liquid jam, tomato paste, salty dried fish (that goes well with beer,) etc.


Probably you are right in the general sense, but it depends a lot on personal preferences. For me, spaghetti with bolognese sauce is not тяжёлая, I can eat a lot of dried fish, and so on.
If we only want to speak about flavor, then maybe we can use вкус as in:
"French Vanilla Deluxe — Французская Ваниль «Делюкс»
Более сильный и богатый вкус, нежели обычная Французская Ваниль. может показаться кому-то слишком сильным!"
Описание вкусов - ароматизаторов TPA (The Perfurmer's Apprentice, ТПА) | Блог Раска
Looks like a translation of an English text, I don't know whether that usage is idiomatic.


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## Rosett

Xavier61 said:


> Probably you are right in the general sense, but it depends a lot on personal preferences. For me, spaghetti with bolognese sauce is not тяжёлая, I can eat a lot of dried fish, and so on.
> If we only want to speak about flavor, then maybe we can use вкус as in:
> "French Vanilla Deluxe — Французская Ваниль «Делюкс»
> Более сильный и богатый вкус, нежели обычная Французская Ваниль. может показаться кому-то слишком сильным!"
> Описание вкусов - ароматизаторов TPA (The Perfurmer's Apprentice, ТПА) | Блог Раска
> Looks like a translation of an English text, I don't know whether that usage is idiomatic.


Yeah, spaghetti represent rather personal feelings, (ex.: Italians take spaghetti with bread,) but everyone's taste is strictly individual, so is the "too rich" threshold.

Spaghetti was referred to as an example of "тяжёлая пища", as opposed to "too rich flavour." But you pour a cup of healthy olive oil over your spaghetti plate, it may taste too rich even for spaghetti lovers.


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