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A treat is

something special that you do or buy for yourself or someone else

macmillandictionary

(US) something that tastes good and that is not eaten often

learnersdictionary

The examples given by learnersdictionary are the most interesting for this question:

  • freshly baked treats [=goodies]
  • cookies and other tasty treats
  • She rewarded the dog with a treat.

When the dog receives that treat, is a sort of premio or recompensa (which goes implicit in the verb rewarded and might be redundant as such in a translation).

The "cookies and other tasty treats" can be misleading. Although is easy to associate treats with "dulces" it doesn't need to be the case. For example, "chorizo" is a treat for my family. Where we live chorizo is not impossible to find, but can be difficult (at least finding a good quality one) and thus, it is pricey. So chorizo is a treat for our family. We don't eat it often and when we do I cut just a few rodajas for the kid and it's something "special".

Probably many different things could be considered "treats" since, after all, with the usage of treat as a verb you could "treat yourself to a massage" or "take the kids to the water park as a special treat" (in which treat is more like an agasajo).

It sounds weird to me, but maybe the proper translation for "chorizo is a treat for our family" would be

El chorizo es una chuchería en nuestra familia

El chorizo es una golosina en nuestra familia

because I always associated chucherías and golosinas as something sweet (candy-like), but maybe it doesn't need to be, since the definition of golosina says that is "generally sweet" it it doesn't need to be.

What would be a good way of translating "treat" into Spanish, considering that we can understand it meaning as

something that tastes good and that is not eaten often

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  • There is also the usage (in a bar) "It's my treat" which I think is te invito
    – mdewey
    Oct 31, 2017 at 18:09
  • 1
    Iba a editar "cuchería" pero como lo has puesto dos veces me ha entrado la duda de si lo has escrito así a propósito ¿es un error?
    – user14069
    Oct 31, 2017 at 18:52
  • 1
    @blonfu, no, tienes tú razón. La he puesto mal la primera vez y he debido de arrastrar el error con un copia-pega. Seguramente el corrector me la ha resaltado y yo he pensado que era porque estaba en español (mientras que el autocorrector estaba en inglés), sin darme cuenta de la errata.
    – Diego
    Oct 31, 2017 at 18:58
  • Es similar a lo que conocemos en Chile como un engañito: "Pequeño regalo, obsequio de poco valor económico, dado como muestra de amistad, retribución o cariño."
    – Rodrigo
    Apr 9, 2018 at 21:30

4 Answers 4

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En Pons se propone la traducción gusto:

I bought myself an ice cream as or for a treat

me compré un helado para darme (un) gusto

Se podría también asociar con la siguiente entrada en el DLE:

gusto

  1. m. Capricho, antojo, diversión.
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  • 3
    Pues irónicamente me gusta más "capricho", que aparece en la definición de la RAE para "gusto". Recoge muy bien la noción de que es algo especial pero innecesario. Aunque quizás sólo funcione para personas; lo de darle un capricho al perro no lo veo xD
    – Alicia
    Oct 31, 2017 at 20:05
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Si estoy hablando con un niño, voy a expresar esta idea así:

Tengo un regalito para tí. / Te compré un regalito.

O bien:

Tengo algo especial para tí. / Hice algo especial.

Los dos funcionan para el ejemplo del perro también.

Pero tu frase "This type of sausage, chorizo, is a special treat for our family" sería un poco diferente. Sorry, I just looked back and realized the question was written in English so forgive me if I switch gears at this point. Anyway, in the context you described, we could say

El chorizo es un plato especial en mi casa, reservado para ocasiones especiales.

By the way, if you want to clarify that the regalito is something edible, especially something sweet, you could add es muy rico:

Tengo un regalito para tí en el coche. Ven a ver. Es algo muy rico.

(I don't know if rico is a Mexicanism.)

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  • 1
    I have certainly heard rico in Spain
    – mdewey
    Nov 5, 2017 at 13:18
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Así, a bote pronto:

Manjar

  1. m. Comida exquisita.

exquisitez

  1. f. Cosa exquisita, especialmente un manjar de reducido tamaño y de aspecto y sabor delicados.

ambrosía

  1. f. Mit. Manjar o alimento de los dioses.
  2. f. Vianda, manjar o bebida de gusto suave o delicado.
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2

Gollería

  1. f. Manjar exquisito y delicado.
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