Ugh, the wine tasting words can really get to me.

Yeah, but fruity and acidic have actual meaning. And I would discribe the Spanish EVOO that I like as "floral", and I think that's meaningful too. I'm not drinking a wine that can be called "jammy"!!!

My pet peeve word right now that is used to death is "sustainable". Like I'm so impressed with that and I'm never eating anything that isn't "sustainable" ever again. Yeah.

I suppose don’t read/watch enough cooking stuff anymore to notice overused words. What I always found got old (when I watched more) were the chefs’ catch phrases.

Not sure why the wine tasting words are bothersome. Sure I don’t taste all the chocolate and coffee notes, etc., but if it means something to those who do why not use it. Wines do open up with time and exposure to oxygen; “decanting” is one way to speed up the process, what would you prefer? And there’s an aftertaste but that sounds almost negative and “finish” more refined if a tad pretentious. Doesn’t bother me any. As long as it’s not yum-o it’s all good with me!

This is my favorite part:

<Ethnic as a lazy catchall for non-Western food.
Referring to "ethnic food," as if all the cuisines outside your home
country can be lumped into a single category, or as if "ethnic" is a
term that applies only to people who don't look like you, is childishly
reductive and frankly rude. Speaking of "Asian flavors" or "African cuisine"
falls into a similar boat of generalizing about huge and diverse
regions of the world; it's not only offensive but simply incorrect.>

People need to use country names instead of continent names to describe a cuisine. Asian cuisine would include Afghan (which I love), as well as Indian and Persian, which are all quite different. There is also great diversity in Africa, as Ethiopian is quite different from Algerian or Moroccan, and Moroccan is quite different from Algerian. I love Algerian food - I don't care for Moroccan. I do like West African food, and several countries in that area do have similar cuisines.

To me, Egyptian food is quite similar to Lebanese, Syrian, or Turkish, which are all Asian.

FOAS, "---- Not sure why the wine tasting words are bothersome. ---"

I wonder when all those fancy sophisticated words for wine drinking started. 20 years ago? 30 years ago? 50 years ago? 100 years ago?

Are we saying that all the wine drinkers prior to 100 years knew nothing about wine drinking?

dcarch

I’d like to ban “flavourful”. What’s wrong with good old “tasty” or “delicious”?

Probably as the cooking shows say "seasoned" as in dump a bunch of salt on it! The amount they use is crazy! Of course I'm rather salt sensitive. Nancy

My actual pet peeve is one in the article, but for different reasons. Unctuous, as uttered by the great Alex Guarnaschelli and thence many on TV. Yes, it means greasy and smooth, but I'd never heard it applied to food before AG. Usually it's the unctuous son-in-law ingratiating himself with the rich old granny, or the unctuous used car salesman slathering on the ooze to close the sale. Not a nice word at all!

“Are we saying that all the wine drinkers prior to 100 years knew nothing about wine drinking?”

Not sure why you think that’s being suggested. Were people able to perceive “umami” before that became a household term? I imagine so. Does the fact that the term became overused by food snobs invalidate it any? I’m thinking no.

This did make me laugh though:

Any noun used as a verb drives me bonkers....gifted, saled, come immediately to mind...I am sure I can think of others.
Frankly when describing flavors, there are just so many words....but those who really have no meaning are especially annoying: words like "over the top"...and "to another level"....oh yes and flavors and colors that "pop"!....

Hm... You know I love words, but I'm more bothered by what TV chefs do than what article writers say. Yeah, stuff gets trite and hackneyed then a good writer comes up with a novel turn of phrase and that gets copied to death and on we go.

I get it about the verb "gifted" (obnoxious!), but, to be fair, originally it was different from "gave", in that it meant something where an actual present was involved whereas "gave" could mean anything from a donation to a stern lecture. :)

The umami thing is funny, FOAS. :) OTOH, scientists have determined the particular chemicals that are perceived as umami, so it's not really BS, even though it is, perhaps ... not overused so much as given too much focus. People don't dwell rapturously on "sour" they way they do on tomatoes, mushrooms and beefsteak, er, umami. :)

Gotta say, not interested in drinking any chewy or jammy wines!

"Awesome"

What words did people use before "Awesome"?

dcarch

Dcarch--I think it was "groovy".

Yeah and way before that (even before me) it was "the bee's knees".

I think I've posted this before, but it makes me smile: "A chief contributor to global warming is the hot air that arises from the (wine) tasting rooms."

... pure ... cheese

Infused. I only skimmed the article, but the title of this post made me think of the word "infused." In most cases, it's a fancy word for "mixed in."

For me, the issues are more in advertising than journalism:

”real ingredients" --um...if it's a substance, rather than a metaphysical incantation.

"Clean" food. What is that? It seems to be about whole rather than processed before time of final preparation, but does that mean no mineral/chemical ingredients? It seems to, but where's the line? Sodium chloride? Sodium Bicarbonate? Calcium stearate? Does that mean no processed foods like tomato paste? Even if you make it yourself, tomato paste is processed.

What really bothers me aren't the descriptive food words, but rather the nastiness that has arisen on too many cooking shows.... and the words they used to be nasty.

I want an experienced elderly cooking contest on the cooking shows ... they'd have to give us an extra five minutes per round ...

we do a chopped showdown at the big family holiday gatherings ... one side of the family vs. other family branches ... or guys vs. gals or the like .... and surprise ingredients ... guys, gals and husbands/wives in the finals. Best food of the night gets a silly prize ... like a piggy bank.