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The Food Snob's Dictionary: An Essential Lexicon of Gastronomical Knowledgex$7.23
  (9 reviews)
Best Price: $7.23
Food Snob n: reference term for the sort of food obsessive for whom the actual joy of eating and cooking is but a side dish to the accumulation of arcane knowledge about these subjects
From the author of The United States of Arugula--and coauthor of The Film Snob’s Dictionary and The Rock Snob’s Dictionary--a delectable compendium of food facts, terminology, and famous names that gives ordinary folk the wherewithal to take down the Food Snobs--or join their zealous ranks.
Open a menu and there they are, those confusing references to “grass-fed” beef, “farmstead” blue cheese, and “dry-farmed” fruits. It doesn’t help that your dinner companions have moved on to such heady topics as the future of the organic movement, or the seminal culinary contributions of Elizabeth Drew and Fernand Point. David Kamp, who demystified the worlds of rock and film for grateful readers, explains it all and more, in The Food Snobs Dictionary.
Both entertaining and authentically informative, The Food Snob’s Dictionary travels through the alphabet explaining the buzz-terms that fuel the food-obsessed, from “Affinage” to “Zest,” with stops along the way for “Cardoons,” “Fennel Pollen,” and “Sous-Vide,” all served up with a huge and welcome dollop of wit.
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Customer Reviews
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Self-deprecating humor always works
By A22WYXW3EDCUHJ on 2007-11-12
Self-deprecating humor always works, especially when it conveys useful information. With just the right amount of words, this book is not only fun, it is very informative. Specially useful are the 'how to use in a sentence' bits. A great holiday gift.
Great dictionary, great fun
By A3JEYB6AYCCK87 on 2007-10-15
Now you too can show off like a seasoned snob in the the finest restaurants. It used to be all one needed was an attitude and a working knowledge of the French language to show off in a great restaurant. But that was before terms like artisanal and zabaglione invaded. Now, thanks to the tireless efforts of the clever and funny writer David Kamp, all you need is this Food Snob's Dictionary hidden in your purse or back pocket. I never leave home without it. My friends are all impressed with my new found knowledge of food. Oh, and it's darn fun to read too.
It's a slippery slope to food snobbery
By A151OW029XD9JU on 2007-10-23
This compact book wasn't exactly what I was expecting. Given that it's a dictionary obstensibly for "food snobs," you might think it would show them some respect. But this dictionary, while quite informative, was completely irreverent and downright snarky. To be honest, I really found myself chuckling as I read the entries.
The "definitions" included culinary terms (molecular gastronomy, artisanal, crudo), procedures (brining, expedite, plating), famous chefs (Alice Waters, Marcus Gavius Apicus, James Beard), gourmet foods (speck, crepinette, fennel pollen), food purveyors (Dirty Girl Produce, Cowgirl Creamery, Niman Ranch), and kitchen equipment (bain-marie, All-Clad, Global Knives). Often, the word being defined is used in an illuminating sentence, such as, "Ever since Chef got his own TV show, he hardly ever cooks anymore; basically, he comes in two nights a week just to EXPEDITE and scream at us like a dick." Oh, and did I mention the foul language? Didn't offend me in the least. Actually, it cracked me up, but that's me.
Aside from the humor, there is a lot of good information here for the person looking to learn about both current trends and culinary history. As a San Franciscan, I was impressed by how many local food purveyors these New York authors included in their book. But they're not just bi-coastal, the mid-west was represented as well. If you're interested in the subject, this book is worth picking up to assess your personal snobbery quotient--or perhaps potential.
The Knife loves this too
By A1VZVH10PTA3U8 on 2007-10-09
Publication days are happy ones, particularly when they involve The World's Second Best Accidental Food Writer, David Kamp. (First place goes to Anthony Bourdain, although after four books, two TV shows and a bunch of mystery novels, he's sort of an editor emeritus; it's been years since he's seen the dark side of a restaurant kitchen.)
In any case, "The Food Snob's Dictionary" ("FSD") is the unholy love child of Kamp's twin obsessions: pop-culture lexicons of "aspirational satire" and the rise of America's food(ie) culture, which he documented brilliantly in "The United States of Arugula" (which, in paperback, has a fabulous new tagline: "The Sun Dried, Cold Pressed, Dark Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution").
Kamp's FSD, like his dictionaries that came before it (Rock Snob's, Film Snob's), is dedicated to celebrating and righteously tweaking the cultural obsessive.
Be still, my heart.
Quick read, great for deflating the snob at any table!
By A12FWLZ7BYWEJ7 on 2008-01-20
This is a tasty little book to have on hand as a quick, fun, read between big serious novels. Very informational as well as silly, something that the snobs wouldn't want to fold into their Mousseline!
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