This is the million-dollar question. There is not just one name for kale in French, which as you can imagine created confusion. When I started The Kale Project, I had no intention of forcing the Anglo name into French lexicon. I knew that with time, the French would take-on what name they wanted to. Now you can find it at markets and supermarkets as le chou kale.
These are just a few of the many names for kale:
Chou frisé: What kale was referred to as hundreds of years ago before it was lost and forgotten. Unfortunately, as kale is so lost, chou frisé is now what the French call Savoy Cabbage – which as mentioned above – is very different, so if you go to a marché or supermarché, you will just get that and not kale. In fact, I’ve been told that the ancient name of Savoy Cabbage was Chou de Milan.
Chou frisé non-pomme: A more technical term as non-pomme refers to the fact that it’s chou frisé but without the head. This works of course and I have a French gardening book that uses this name but the issue is that the leave of Savoy Cabbage are so different from kale leaves.
Chou plume: A poetic and gorgeous name that means feather cabbage. A few farmers are using this and I really really love it. If the French don’t want to use the Anglo name, I am all for chou plume.
Feuilles de chou: Literally, leaves of cabbage. Sometimes I find French translations of English words to be just that. For example, dizzy is literally avoir la tête qui tourne as in to have the head that turns.
Chou borécole: A name which pulls from the Dutch roots of kale as kale is referred to as boerenkool in the Netherlands.
Chou frisé vert demi-nain: A direct translation to “curly-green half dwarf cabbage”! Quite the mouthful, no? No one actually says this, but it’s still been mentioned a few times.
Chou à lapin or chou à vache: Literally, cabbage to rabbit or cabbage to cow since farmers might grow kale but just feed it to their livestock.