Do You Speak Cooking?

So I was reading Al's Morning Meeting again this morning; Mr. Al linked off to a Washington Post article about cookbook publishers having to rework their recipes for an increasingly cooking-illiterate culture.

There's a little sidebar quiz too (non-interactive, but still good) -- do you know what it means to blanch vegetables, cream butter and sugar, dredge chicken, fold egg whites, and simmer stuff?

Cooking is just like any other specialty, in that it has a specific vocabulary that you really should know before you get started to get the maximum benefit from it. (Oh noes, not learning! What about my instant gratification?)

Computers, sports, dance, driving, sewing, filmmaking, shooting, fishing, painting, surgery, music -- when you get down to it, pretty much everything worth doing (and lots of things that aren't) ends up developing its own specialized language so you can express essential but complex concepts quickly and easily. This saves time, wears less on the tongue, and lets you get to the more interesting stuff.

This can be kind of irritating if you don't speak the language, so people who aren't fans of overly-complex jargon may also have a point: Sometimes jargon develops to help distinguish members of the tribe from outsiders. If you know what a Brown Coat is, you're of the Firefly tribe; if you roll on dubs, you're probably... well, you're probably a lot younger than I am. (See also: Teen Slang).

As with anything, you have to strike a balance between efficiency in language to accessibilty and ease of use by others -- personally, I'm a fan of explaining the concept the first time you use it, then going forward from there.

I slip sometimes, of course -- when you've been doing something for a long time, it's easy to forget that things that are second-nature to you (like, FTP) may be completely foreign concepts to someone who's getting started.

Switching topics, the Al's article also had a link to a multimedia representation of coalition casualties in Iraq which was kind of sobering.

Thanks -- Joe

Written by journalseditor Blog about this entry

This entry has 9 comments: (Add your own)

#9 Comment from rmonroe239
4/2/06 12:50 AM | Permalink

My family and friends hate that I use cooking terminology when invited to their house for a sit down with ANY type of food, because I talk like I do at work and they think I am showing off. BUT, when they talk about thier work, it's ok to use their terminology...........what's up with that?
#8 Comment from bendyhendy
3/22/06 4:11 PM | Permalink

hahaha yep!... all the same things that make me laugh too :phew: I thought maybe you would have found my comment offensive and removed it.. haha.. YEARS ago here.. when i was a child.. ( a MILLION years ago)... There was a Tv programme called.. *Fanny by gaslight*.. that always made me laugh then... nothing changes.. :shrugs: haha

Claire :o)
#7 Comment from journalseditorEntry Author
3/22/06 3:59 PM | Permalink

Re: Fanny (Fanny. Fanny! Fanny!!) I am well-aware of this. I was going to mention this in my item about Patty vs. Paddy, since my Irish-from-Ireland friends always get a kick out of this; I usually send them fanny headlines from the Washington Post, since they seem to occur pretty often: Fannie Mae, the mortgage company, is based locally, and the George Bernard Shaw play "Fanny's First Play" is being staged right now. Thanks -- Joe
#6 Comment from bendyhendy
3/22/06 3:51 PM | Permalink

haha.. as some of you may know.. in the UK a *fanny*.. errrrm.. refers to errhhh... <sorry> but it refers to.. womens *bits*... so a *Fanny Farmer* to us In the UK... kind of makes you imagine alsorts of strange things... haha.. sorry.. but it is a fact.. :o) :buffs halo:

I have an American friend that lives here now.. (my neighbour).. I had to mention it to her after she was shouting to her duaghter in the garden about smacking her on the fanny.. while all our other (uk) neighbours looked on.. abit *stunned*... hahaha..

Errmm.. anyyywayyyy... (sorry joe)... Back to food.. ::koff::

Claire :o)

http://journals.aol.com/bendyhendy/BendysWorld/
#5 Comment from onestrangecat
3/21/06 4:13 PM | Permalink

i have a "Fanny Farmer" cookbook that explains everything, even how to boil water! i think all cookbooks should have vocabulary section. not too much to ask if you are shelling out good money for the book.

Kathy

Show all comments (4 more)

AOL Journals: Magic Smoke Public Journal
Back to Journal	Archives \| Alerts x Entry Alerts Comment Alerts \| Feeds

AOL Journals: Magic Smoke

Do You Speak Cooking?