Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Dead Word: Gourmet

I can't stand the use of this word. It has been overused so much it's use is almost a signal of an opposite of intent. For example, TGIFriday's Gourmet Grill. Nothing at TGIF is gourmet. How about Nutrisystem gourmet options - frozen diet food isn't gourmet. Now, whenever I hear gourmet I'm braced for it being used to hype some crap food-product and tricking less-than-knowledgeable eaters into thinking their food is better than it is.
So what, you may ask, is gourmet? Thomas Keller is gourmet, Ming Tsai is gourmet, homemade chicken soup with actual chicken and carrots is gourmet. Anything that is advertised as gourmet is almost certainly not. Just by the virtue (?) of being advertised that kills it. So next time you have a great dinner, don't say it was gourmet - because you are now using a dead word.