Belgium
chicon
Meaning
chicory, the pale forced salad vegetable
Elsewhere
endive
Explanation
France calls it an endive. In Belgium and the north of France it is a chicon, and chicons au gratin, rolled in ham under a cheese sauce, turn up on a lot of winter tables.
Example
Ma mère fait des chicons au gratin tous les dimanches d’hiver.
My mother makes chicory gratin every Sunday in winter.
Origin
First recorded in 1651, in Nicolas de Bonnefons' gardening book Jardinier français. Probably a mangled form of chicorée, chicory.
Where
Belgium
northern France
Source
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