Welcome to the third installment of food words we hate. We've already previously touched on moist (eek) and nom nom (cringe). Today, we're going to tackle the word that all of us at HuffPost Taste feel sick upon hearing, and that word is foodie.
By many people's standards, the editors of Taste would be labeled as "foodies." We talk about food incessantly and have trouble thinking about anything else for more than 15 minutes -- from Snyder's Jalapeno Pretzel Pieces to the hot chocolate at City Bakery, food is always on our radar.
The major problem with the word foodie -- much like our issue with the use of nom nom -- is that it sounds like something a five-year-old would say . Since we're adults, we think that if we have to be labeled, it should at least be with an adult word. Lucky for us, there are a number of words that already exist in the English language that perfectly describe what a foodie has come to mean without having to use that cringe-inducing word.
The other issue we have with foodie -- and we're not alone in this -- is that it groups too many types of food-obsessed people together. There are those who love food for food, those who love food for its fads, those who love food for how it brings people together, and then those who take their love of food and wear it on their arm like a badge of self-entitlement. No one wants to be grouped with self-entitled foodies. No one. So help us combat the use of the word foodie, and consider the substitutes below.
1.) Food Lover
While using the word lover can have the same cringe-inducing effect to some that foodie has for others, the term food lover would at least be an accurate way to describe people who love food. It makes a whole lot more sense than foodie does.
2.) Gourmand
Since clearly the word gourmet has run its course, just like the magazine, we think gourmand can take its place. While a gourmand might be more interested in quantity over quality of food, a gourmande is still one who has food (and drink) on the brain every second of every day -- making this term a perfect fill-in for foodie.
3.) Food Nerd
Since the 1990s word "nerd" leaves some of us feeling a tad nostalgic (bringing back scenes of "Can't Buy Me Love" when Patrick Dempsey was at his finest), we more than support bringing food nerd in to replace foodie. It couldn't be more accurate. People who know one too many things about how chocolate is produced or who can tell you the difference between the 400 varieties of French cheeses fit into the category of what any 1990s child would call a nerd. But more specifically, they're nerds about food.
What do you think of the word foodie? Leave us a comment below!