Food Terms

Food Term Special

Footnotes to a sophisticated story

1. Offal— n. Middle English. The viscera and trimmings of a butchered animal that is often considered inedible by humans. At high-end restaurants such as No. 9, talented chefs turn this refuse into delicacy. i.e: Beowulf scoffed at his plebeian dining partner, Roxette, when she refused to so much as taste the offal.

2. Gnocchi—n. Italian. Small dumplings traditionally constructed from flour, semolina (the fine, hard parts of wheat) and potatoes. Most gnocchi are either boiled or baked, ensuring a soft, paste-like texture. i.e.: Donatella bit into her gnocchi and then scoffed when the ill-prepared dumplette clung to the roof of her mouth.

3. Heirloom— adj. Middle English. When used in relation to produce, this term describes vegetables that are grown through an open pollination method. This means the plant seed is pure—passed down like a material heirloom—through cultivation of successive generations of pure-bred plants. This is differentiated from many vegetables of the grocery store variety, which are often the product of hybrid seeds. i.e.: Grendel’s delicate palate couldn’t handle vegetables that were the products of bastard seeds; he was on a strictly heirloom diet.