The Food Snob's Dictionary: An Essential Lexicon of Gastronomical Knowledge

by David Kamp, Marion Rosenfeld, Ross MacDonald (Illustrator)

Food Snob 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.

Genres: Food, Nonfiction, Humor, Food and Drink, Cooking, Food and Wine, Gastronomy

144 pages, Paperback

First published October 9, 2007

About the author

David Kamp is an author, journalist, lyricist, and humorist. Among his books are the national bestseller The United States of Arugula (Broadway Books, 2006), a chronicle of America’s foodways; the critically lauded Sunny Days (Simon & Schuster, May 2020), a history of the Sesame Street-Mister Rogers era of enlightened children’s television; and, as collaborator, Martin Short’s bestselling memoir, I Must Say (HarperCollins, 2014), Ron Howard and Clint Howard’s joint memoir, The Boys (William Morrow, 2021), and A Fine Line Between Stupid and Clever: The Story of Spinal Tap (Gallery Books, 2025), with Rob Reiner, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer.

Reviews

[Kb]

Published in 2007, this book is starting to feel dated, especially in reference to The Food Network, which has evolved considerably. I expected more from this book -- entries are short, cursory, and US-west-coast-centric. There is a whole world of European foodism not covered here. (What about all those Brit-snobs with their Agas, and food tourism in Tuscany and Provence, among other things?)

Another disappointment: much like the online Urban Dictionary, the examples of usage for many entries are improbable, manufactured exaggerations that do a disservice to anyone wishing to understand how a word is actually used by real people. It would have been much more work for the author, but much more informative for the reader, to search out published quotes as illustrations of meaning. However, for a light humorous read, I can see why it was written the way it was.

This book concentrates on the personalities of authors who wrote influential texts relating to gastronomy (including restaurant reviews), rather than going into any depth about the approaches they inspired -- or inspired others to rebel against. I would love to read a book like this written by someone less interested in humour and more interested in the history of food and food movements.

[Bryn]

A 2008 snapshot of foodie trends and obsessions, written with humour but also real information. I enjoyed both the backwards look at some of my own less laudable moments (oh I was such a food snob before I had children) and also thinking about it in wider context, what food meant to me in the 00s and what it means to me now, and how some of that culture has changed or disappeared but other parts of it are alive and well and focused on whatever the latest trend is -- kale is out of date, I know, so is quinoa, what is it now?

It struck me reading this how this is from a time before iphones and social media were ubiquitous -- a more recent version of this book would have to deal with how social media creates and undoes food trends and whether or not it has made this sort of focus on food more accessible to more people -- some kind of evaluation of all those TikTok cooking memes from 2020 and 2021. But this was 2008, none of that had happened yet, and it is strange how recent it feels to me (2008 was just a few years ago, right?) and also how long ago it was.

[Stephen]

David Kamp wrote "The United States of Arugula" (2006) and proved his chops as both food writer and humourous essayist. The premise of his "Food Snob's Dictionary" is that it prepares one to (a) become a food snob by using its contents correctly and often, or (b) look down on food snobs for their pretentious use of the words contained in the book. In addition to words for foods and processes, the lexicon includes the names and short biographies of many of the biggies -- both classical and modern -- in the food snob world. Where else would one learn the difference between romanesco (a cruciferous vegetable) and romesco (a Spanish sauce akin to pesto)? The introductory essay, which delves the origins of food snobbery and projects them into the future, is an excellent bit of fun writing. His merciless lampooning of food faddists and food terrorists is congenial to those who agree with him.

[Danang]

Kalau lagi belajar nulis ironi dan sinisme, buku ini bisa jadi pegangannya.
Memang buku ini ngomongin tentang dunia kuliner, tapi isinya ya ampun...penuh sindiran dan nyinyiran.
Bahkan saat menjelaskan tentang keju aja bisa bikin jadi ketawa saking penuh sinismenya.

[Sonja]

Although it's slightly outdated, I learned a fair number of foodie tidbits!

[Karma Banks]

Humorous but not really what I expected.

[Carmen]

This is a silly little book poking fun at foodies and people who know or are concerned with the purity and authenticity of everything that touches their delicate palate. I certainly fall into that category at times, especially pertaining to a certain ethnic cuisine I am intimately acquainted with. I do disagree with certain entries, especially one pertaining to the Autogrill in Italy. It is the best road food you will ever taste no matter what these two say. And that goes for the Autogrills in the airports too!

[Cate]

As a self-called Foodie, I really enjoyed this book. It was humbling, however, to realize that I'm not as much of a foodie as I thought I was. The definitions were informative but more importantly, funny. I had a few laugh aloud moments reading this "book."

[Joelen]

This was an okay book.... it didn't tell me too much I didn't already know. I wish there were other lexicon that were more in depth in their descriptions and definitions.

[Dee]

A sweet gift from my husband - perfect fodder for my online food quiz: http://www.saucemagazine.com/quiz.php

[Mandy]

if you love to eat, it's a fun read.

[Delight]

This is a funny book about all things gourmet. I cracked up at quite a few of the "definitions".

[Megan Chromik]

Definitely entertaining.

[Amanda Chisholm]

kamp is a genius.

i loved the 'film snob's' and this is even better...

[Andrea]

This is equally informative and hilarious in the way it makes fun of foodie culture.

[Randi]

Left me wanting much more...but still very clever and lots of fun to read.

[Katie]

Two and a half really. It was fine, but not really what I was looking for in a food snob dictionary. I expected there to be more food history and less entries about the big names in the food world.

[Keith]

This was just fun. Thoroughly enjoyed testing my knowledge and proud to say I did pretty well - but learned a bunch of new things. Good for any true foodie.

[Tom]

I admit I am unfortunately.

[Javier Santillan]

Easy read and a joy to return to.