blancmange: [14] Blancmange means literally simply ‘white food’. It comes from a French compound made up of blanc ‘white’ and manger, a noun derived from the verb manger ‘eat’ (related to English manger). Originally it was a savoury dish, of chicken or similar white meat in a sauce made with cream, eggs, rice, etc and often sugar and almonds. Gradually the meat content came to be omitted, and blancmange turned into a sweet dish, typically containing gelatine. => manger
blancmange (n.)
late 14c., from Old French blancmengier (13c.), literally "white eating," originally a dish of fowl minced with cream, rice, almonds, sugar, eggs, etc.; from blanc "white" (also used in Old French of white foods, such as eggs, cream, also white meats such as veal and chicken; see blank (adj.)) + mangier "to eat" (see manger).
