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The Most Pretentious Food Terms Of All Time

Warning: be prepared to get angry.
By 

Staff Writer, Food & Travel

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One of the biggest complaints people have with the food industry is the pretentious attitude. From old-school fine dining to the modern day foodie, the food world is full of people and establishments who reek of self-importance.

Unnecessarily grandiose descriptions of food, on menus and in restaurant reviews, are one of the most visible manifestations of food snobbery. The world is already over-saturated with food writing -- the last thing we need is haughty and heavy-handed language. When we read restaurant reviews that refer to the "mousse" -- that wasn't for dessert -- as "unctuous in texture," and see items described as "farm fresh" on menus, we really lose our appetites.

Pretentious food words are unfortunately a dime a dozen. Here are 12 of the worst offenders. What food words get under your skin?

1
Foraged
From the menu of Clio in Boston.
Did the kitchen staff really go out and forage the mushrooms, or did they possibly buy them at a market?
2
Essence
From the menu of The Library restaurant.
What the hell does this even mean?
3
Harvested, locally or otherwise
From Logan restaurant's menu.
Yes, the vegetable you're eating was harvested. We get it.
4
Toothsome
From a review of Cunningham's restaurant on citypaper.com.
The word "toothsome" is terrible. Period.
5
Sumptuous
From a review in Fodor's of La Cirque in Las Vegas.
If someone uses the word "sumptuous" to describe their dinner one more time we're gonna freak out.
6
Deconstructed
From the dinner menu at MiLa in New Orleans.
So they made all the things but didn't feel like assembling them?
7
Market anything
From August restaurant's dinner menu.
So you bought it at the market. And?
8
Hand-selected anything
From 501 on Main restaurant's menu.
Isn't that just what "selecting" is? Somebody has to use their hands, right?
9
Composition
From a review of Kobacha restaurant in the Chicago Tribune.
Oh god.
10
Duo of anything
From Daniel restaurant in NYC's dinner menu.
This just sounds so precious.
11
Foam
A quote from Richard Blais on his restaurant Juniper & Ivy in Zagat.
Foam, go home. We're done with you.
12
No words -- just ingredients
From Alina restaurant's menu.
And perhaps the most pretentious of all is the lack of words on trendy and fancy menus today, where they just list the ingredients and you have to guess what the hell you're ordering.

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Before You Go

Expensive dishes
Fleur: The FleurBurger 5000, $5,000(01 of08)
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Fans of "Top Chef Masters" know Hubert Keller as the French-accented chef with mean knife skills and a calm demeanor. They may also know that he makes the most expensive hamburger in the world. At Fleur, Chef Keller's burger joint in Las Vegas, the eponymous FleurBurger 5000 clocks in at a whopping five grand. And what does that "pocket change" get you? A Kobe beef patty with a cube of seared foie gras, shaved black truffles and truffle-spiked "special sauce" all sandwiched into a buttery brioche bun. And bonus, it comes with a bottle of 1990 Chateau Petrus. Technically, the burger is a steal compared to the hospital fees associated with a FleurBurger-induced heart attack.[Also see: Regional Mexican Smackdown: Which Style is Numero Uno?] (credit:Fleur)
Norma's: Zillion Dollar Lobster Frittata, $1,000(02 of08)
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Norma's, an all-day breakfast restaurant in New York's Le Parker Meridien Hotel, boasts an egg dish that's all about the Benjamins. Ten of them, to be exact. The menu dares you to put the Zillion Dollar Lobster Frittata on your expense account, which we guess means the menu was created pre-2008. Regardless, this dish contains six eggs and Maine lobster tail, all of which is topped with 10 grams of caviar. Baller.[Also see: This Week's Top Restaurant and Food News] (credit:Norma's)
Serendipity: Grand Opulence Sundae, $1,000(03 of08)
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If you've already spent $1,000 on breakfast at Norma's, why not walk a few blocks to Serendipity 3 to double down on your fancy feast? Make an appointment beforehand for the Grand Opulence Sundae, a doozy of a concoction that puts your average banana split with the works to shame. Madagascar vanilla beans flavor the ice cream while chocolate chips are replaced by cocoa chunks from the Venezualan coast. Toppings include candy from Paris-based Fauchon and a trio of infused caviars: passion fruit, orange, Armagnac and plenty of 23K gold leaf. The whole thing is presented in a Baccarat bowl with a gold spoon.[Also see: Foodie Travel Guide to SF: Where to Eat on Any Budget] (credit:Serendipity)
Nino's Bellisima: Luxury Pizza, $1,000(04 of08)
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Cheese, bread, sauce. Maybe a topping or two? How could that get so expensive? Try introducing chunks of lobster tail, crème fraîche and four types of caviar to the mix. Oh, and it's not even an eight-slice monster. Manhattan's Nino's Bellisima is the merchant hawking the Luxury Pizza, an order-ahead item. This personal-size pizza clocks in at approximately $33 per bite, but unfortunately this pie doesn't make our plebeian mouths water in the same way that a regular street slice does.[Also see: 10 Awesome Athlete-Owned Restaurants] (credit:Nino's Bellisima)
Bar Masa/Shaboo: Hot Pot, $500(05 of08)
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Traditionally a pretty informal affair, hot pot (or shabu-shabu) is a dunk-and-dine feast and an exercise in one-pot cookery. Not at Shaboo, a Masa restaurant sibling in Las Vegas' Aria Resort and Casino. Just-flown-in ingredients including items like bluefin tuna belly, abalone, yellowtail, crab and, of course, beef are made for dunking into your bubbling, custom-made pot as you count the dollars trickling out of your wallet. Add another $95 on to the tab with a scoop of white truffle ice cream for dessert.[Also see: 2012 James Beard Award Finalists Announced] (credit:Shaboo)
Barclay Prime: Cheesesteak, $100(06 of08)
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Philadelphia is famous for its cheesesteaks but one restaurant is actually upping the ante on the sliced meat sammy. Barclay Prime is the daring resto with the nerve to charge $100 for the dish. So what makes it worth all those pennies? There's foie gras, of course, Kobe beef and truffles thrown into the hoagie roll. Add in some oozing Taleggio cheese and a half bottle of Perrier-Jouët, Grand Brut served alongside and you've got a retooled comfort food fit for a high roller.[Also see: 10 Pizza Hot Spots in LA] (credit:Barclay Prime)
Tocqueville: Golden Araucana Egg, $100(07 of08)
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Sure, eggs are pretty incredible and many a chef has become obsessed with perfecting the art of cooking them (ahem, Wylie Dufresne). But a hundred dollars for an egg dish? That's pretty steep.Manhattan's Toqueville utiizes a prehistoric-looking Araucana (a Chilean chicken) egg in a dish that would make Mr. WD-50 drool. It's poached, crisped and plated with gnocchi, risotto or tagliatelli before getting a layer of shaved Perigord truffle.[Also see: Ultimate San Francisco Dining Guide: Best Burger, Pizza and More] (credit:Tocqueville)
Serendipity 3: Haute Dog, $69(08 of08)
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Known as much for its long lines as it is for its ice cream sundae, Serendipity 3 gets a second spot on this list for its Haute Dog. Now, this is no two-dollar street cart dirty water dog. Replacing the squishy bun is pretzel bread, that's flown in from Germany and spread with white truffle butter and sea salt from Malta. Then, there's the beef, which is basted with white truffle oil. And if that doesn't sound rich enough, throw in some black truffle-foie gras pate, black truffle mustard and heirloom tomato ketchup. Does Heinz not pair well with truffles and foie?[Also see: London's Must-Try Street Food] (credit:Serendipity 3)

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