I started food blogging back in 2009 to document my journey through chef school. It was largely for my friends and family to keep up to date with my daily struggles, triumphs and hilarity of going from vegetarian-pescetarian-
Maigret de Canard, Sauce Ceps
Blogging was very different back then. It was like a personal journal shared with people sharing similar interests. It wasn't for "blagging", it wasn't for "bragging" and I never actually thought I would someday down the line be using blogging for business - it is by far one of our greatest tools for online marketing. Now of course food blogging is a lot of things; for some it's a legit revenue source, for some it's media and PR, for some it's about "blagging" freebies, for me it's for showing off our work and keeping customers up-to-date, but for most it is still largely for sharing personal experiences, recipes and views.
Top 10 Most Irritating and Over-Used Food Blogger Words
1. Moist
This is the mother of all over-used, foodie cliched, hackneyed, morbid, grim words EVER. I hate this word, in fact I think it is one of the world's most hated words too. I never use it myself and I cannot begin to describe the way my skin crawls when I hear this word. Sadly it is often used to describe cakes. YUKH.
Suggested synonyms: Much to my dismay, there isn't one that perfectly replaces this hideous word but I make a conscious effort to omit this from our descriptions choosing "slightly fudgey and fluffy" as an alternative to describe our cakes.
Springy, fudgey, spongey, cakey goodness
2. Delish
Suggested synonyms: delectable, tasty, exquisite, scrumptious
The DeliciouslyStella Cake is Deliciously Delish
3. Orgasmic
Food + Sex? Separately, yeah great. Together, SO wrong. I really don't want to go to my Nando's and think about how aroused my neighbours are getting while tucking into their peri-Peri chicken and chips, no matter how moist and delish dem chicken breasts are. This word should just be banned from all food writing for eternity.
Suggested synonyms: delicious, tasty, delightful, amazing, awesome...ANYTHING but.
Poor Harry...I'd never have dinner with Sally again
4. Mouth-gasmic
Suggested synonyms: go away, you're banned.
5. Lush
Like the cosmetics, hate the word. Probably short for "luscious" which is just wrong when describing food. Other than coming across as a tacky try-hard substitute of "delicious", like the cheap gold-digging younger bit on the side, it actually offers nothing by way of any meaningful description.
Suggested synonyms: suck it up and just say delicious.
Lush Laura's Delicious Birthday Cake
6. Heavenly
One that I am personally guilty of, mainly owing to the fact that the brand's identity is derived from "angelic" inspiration but one person's heaven could well be another person's hell. Case in point, my hatred of dill. I can't eat anything that's touched the dastardly stuff. However one of my chefs used it in absolutely every starter on the menu at the restaurant because it was his heavenly herb. I'm not going to vanquish 'heavenly' from my vocab completely but will pay close attention to its use, or rather over-use.
Suggested synonyms: out-of-this-world, off-the-scale, out-worldly
Out-of-this-World Wedding Cake
7. Succulent
Cactus is succulent and I really hope it's nothing like that peri-peri chicken on my plate. Maybe I'm too much of a simpleton pleb but it confuses me, the noun vs adjective.
Suggested synonyms - juicy, tender
8. Yummy
Other than child-like it's the epitome of lazy writing. Use sparingly to describe something you want to deceive a toddler into eating, like steamed broccoli or mushy peas.
Suggested synonyms: tasty, amazing, incredible, fantastic.
9. Artisan
Yikes! This word actually features in our strap line, and while it is applicable to our business it's just been sooooo abused everywhere that I cringe outwardly every time I see and hear it now. I'm just waiting for McDonald's to use it to describe the McHipster - their small-batch, single origin coffee compost home-grown organic grass-fed Wagyu beef burgers before it breaks the proverbial straw and I drop the word from our tag line.
Suggested synonyms: none. If you know of any please do let me know.
SMH...what have I found...okay for real, this is the straw.
10. Gourmet
Suggested synonyms: NONE. Gourmet till the grave.
This post is written in a spirit of part-jest and part-vent. I'm fully aware I use some of the above regularly but I'm hoping to become less dependent on cliched food blogging vocabulary and get more inspired in my own writing.
Let me know of your food-blogging pet-peeves and of any synonym suggestions!
Big bloggy bisous,
Reshmi xoxo
gamesellru
May 17, 2021
No doubt.