Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I love watching food and travel shows and I watch Andrew Zimmern a lot. I think his show is fun and entertaining. But one thing I can't stand is his penchant to use annoying food jargons, like 'Umami'. I think it's pretentious, especially when most Japanese would tell you the one ingredient that brings up the so-called Umami flavor is MSG!
Another word I find pretentious is 'aubergine'. Unless you're French, or it's listed on a French cookbook or on a menu of a French Restaurant, just call it 'eggplant' for goodness' sake! Nobody will think less of you for saying that, I promise!
Then there's 'molecular gastronomy', which is basically eating your food in the form of shaving foam. Although I have to be honest, I can't think of another name for this type of food to make it sound edible.
What other food jargons do you find annoying?
Aubergine is the name used in a lot of the English-speaking world. If you said eggplant in England, for example, people would be confused. After all, eggplant is a rather stupid name for a long purple vegetable. Umami is one of the five sensory tastes - its as pretentious as salty, sweet, sour and bitter. You can say "savory" instead - but that already means something else so its not as useful.
You're pretty opinionated about word use for someone who says "jargons" even though jargon is also the plural term.
Now if you could get behind a drive to stop the pretentious pronunciation of herb as erb (although some people sound like a bullfrog when they say erb), then I'd understand that.
Umami is one of the five sensory tastes - its as pretentious as salty, sweet, sour and bitter. You can say "savory" instead - but that already means something else so its not as useful.
Umami is "savory" in Japanese. Pretty much the literal translation.
It would be like calling your Brie Cheese "Fromage Brie." I wouldn't be surprised if soon I go to a higher-end restaurant and the waiter describes a sampler as a platter of various fromages from the cellars of Par-ee just to make it sound more appealing.
Now if you could get behind a drive to stop the pretentious pronunciation of herb as erb (although some people sound like a bullfrog when they say erb), then I'd understand that.
It is just as correct and un-pretentious for an American to say "erb" as it is for a British person to say "herb". At the time of North American colonization by England, British people pronounced it as "erb". Since then, British have adopted the "herb" pronunciation, while Americans, as in several other cases, have retained the older pronunciation.
__________________ ____________________________________________
My posts as a Mod will always be in red.
Be sure to review Terms of Service: TOS
And check this out: FAQ
Moderator: Relationships Forum / Hawaii Forum / Dogs / Pets / Current Events
Umami is "savory" in Japanese. Pretty much the literal translation.
It would be like calling your Brie Cheese "Fromage Brie." I wouldn't be surprised if soon I go to a higher-end restaurant and the waiter describes a sampler as a platter of various fromages from the cellars of Par-ee just to make it sound more appealing.
Umami is the word to use because it was first discovered and noted by a Japanese scientist. Why change a perfectly good word? Everyone knows what Umami means - whereas savory can also just mean a non-sweet food - savory or sweet being used as antonyms.
The refusal to use the proper word is called reverse snobbery - and its ridiculous.
Its like saying "brie cheese" instead of just saying brie
It is just as correct and un-pretentious for an American to say "erb" as it is for a British person to say "herb". At the time of North American colonization by England, British people pronounced it as "erb". Since then, British have adopted the "herb" pronunciation, while Americans, as in several other cases, have retained the older pronunciation.
That's entirely a guess - I've seen the same nonsense before written like some statement of fact when its just a specious construct. In Victorian times people were certainly pronouncing Culpeper's Herbal with an H. There's no reason to believe, other than some ex post facto construction to win an argument, that herb was pronounced with a French pronunciation as late as the 1600s, especially given the widespread phonetic spelling at the time - which doesn't support the pronunciation as erb at all.
All it needs is one person to write some justification like that on a blog and before you know 2 years later its an "internet fact"
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
"artisanal"
