Trends come and go, and the literal language of food evolves.
But there’s plenty of terminology that outstays its welcome. Or should never existed. I try my best to avoid hearing these terms, never mind using them…
Foodie
I know, there’s not really a better word for ‘avid eating enthusiast’, but foodie has gotta go.
Alternatives? Gastro-anything sounds like a stomach cramp. French classics like epicure and gourmand do little for me. It boils down to a sense of belonging — why do we need to put a label on the fact that we like to eat? Maybe I’m “just lucky to not be a really fat bastard”?
My skin crawls when people say they are a ‘foodie’. Maybe it’s the connotation. What is a foodie? Is it just someone who likes to eat? Don’t we all? (People who think food=fuel are Dead Inside).
Maybe it’s now someone who like to take photographs of their food, are part of the instagram generation. Everyone and their dog is a foodie now because they’ve got a social account documenting their…
…Pub Grub
Oh, you mean, ‘shit food that you wouldn’t normally pay for, but they’re fairly transparent about Head Chef Mike(rowave) so it’s somehow OK’?
‘Pub Grub’ is just ‘shit food’. Of course there are pubs doing great food. They likely don’t call it grub. Encompassing all things frozen. Ready meals, sad watery fish, overcooked meats, photos on the menu for those that don’t know what chicken chasseur is. Carrots, peas & mash like this.
I hear ‘pub grub’ and think ‘even worse than Wetherspoons’ which let’s be honest, is not something anyone wants to be.
Eatery
noun: natural home of a foodie.
Perhaps a term used by someone that’s trying to sound clever. Looked for a synonym of restaurant, cafe, diner, or random hole in the wall that happens to serve something you can eat. Again, it’s the creation of a word that does nothing to advance the language on.
Since 2009, it’s come out of relatively nowhere. Maybe the advent of social media & food blogs? We’ve got a lot to answer for…
Like many of the others here, what the actual fuck is an eatery? Somewhere you eat food? Just call it a restaurant. Or Anything But This.
Yummy
It physically repulses me, so I’ll keep this one brief.
I feel the same way about “yummy” as many do about official, The World’s Most Hated Word 2021: “Moist”. That is, I certainly don’t want it associated with anything I put in my mouth.
There are literally hundreds of more descriptive, more interesting, and less vile words you can use to describe food.
Puns as your sole source of creativity
Oh boy, I (quite irrationally) hate this one so much. I think it started here, in the burgeoning days of social media.
It was funny the first time. But not so much the 100,000th.
Oh, aren’t you and your bang-average café so quirky. Don’t you deserve a D&AD Award for your creativity. It’s not new and it’s not even remotely witty anymore. Oh, maybe you’re using puns to describe your food! “we need to tacobout this birria”. Genius 🥴.
Marina O’Laughlin did this better than I ever just a few weeks ago:
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Clean eating
The notion of clean eating just makes me sad.
It invokes memories of eating undressed salad leaves, chicken that tastes of nothing, people who live their lives without the pleasure of bread, and a general feeling of emptiness. Life is far too short to eat anything that doesn’t make you feel primeval satisfaction. Lose those extra lbs through exercise, not self-deprivation of one of existence’s most basic needs and joys.
As is often the case, Nigella said it best:
Natty wine & craft beer
Lumping these two together as mediocre attempts to try and describe something better than the status quo.
The OED is calling craft beer “a beer made in a traditional or non-mechanized way by a small brewery”. That means diddly-squat. Where is the exact line between a pint of mass produced piss and craft beer? It’s a natural progression to want to label something ‘better’. But just like ‘prime’ meat, and ‘artisan’ jam, it’s essentially meaningless, and becomes more meaningless the more it is used.
As for natty, it’s just an awful word. Similarly, and much like most of the words here, ‘natural’ has no real definition. See also: orange / skin contact / organic / low intervention / biodynamic. It’s a branding thing, that justifies more on the price. Just drink your wine and enjoy it, lads.
I could go on, but I’ll stop there.
I feel as though I’d twitch a little less if some of these abominations could disappear over the next few years. What’s your most/least favourite?