Glossary

Burgery:  My newly-coined term for a burger restaurant. Or, at least I thought I coined it.  It turns out there is a joint in Pennsylvania called The Burgery Company.  There is also a place in Ireland called Burgery.  I still think I am the first to use this in my selected context….that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Destination ______ (could be a burger, another entree or a meal):  My completely subjective and probably biased judgement as to whether whatever fills in the blank is worth going out of your way to have.  Or, if it’s just something  you should just have if you happen to be at the eatery in question.

Fat and Calorie Worthy:  The rating where I ask myself “Does this taste good enough to sacrifice the slender figure of my dreams and fantasies?”  The answer is, all too often, “yes.”  Which is why I am not slender.

Football:  Not very food related, but will come up from time to time as I am a weirdly big fan of the sport.  In this forum, “football” is always soccer.  After five years in Europe, I can’t call this game “soccer” – it hurts my ears and my soul.  For the Americans, we’ll call the other “football” either gridiron, or NFL or American football.

Full-O-Meter:  Created for the healthy food posts, answers the age-old question:  ”Will I need to eat again in an hour?”

Healthy vs. Tasty:  Also created for the healthy food posts, my take on whether you should order the meal in question more because of low fat and calories, or because it’s a genuinely tasty thing to eat regardless of how good it might be for you.

Maillard Reaction:  OK – this is a bit fancy pants and science-y for this site, but I found myself at a loss to describe a lack of flavor for one post; I did a bit of research and came up with this.  From exploratorium.edu:  ”The Maillard reaction occurs when the denatured proteins on the surface of the meat recombine with the sugars present. The combination creates the ‘meaty’ flavor and changes the color. For this reason, it is also called the browning reaction.”  In simpler terms, it’s what makes burgers taste like burgers.  Poetic it is not, but this little factoid did sort of get me where I was trying to go.

Optional French Fry Rating:  What I think about the fries.  It’s “optional” because I’m pretty indifferent about fries.  I’ll eat them if they’re nearby, but I won’t order them specially.  And I never crave them.  Ever.  In the potato family, I prefer baked, mashed and loaded potato skins (lowbrow, yes, but oh-so-tasty).

Tabasco:  The king of all hot sauces.  I wish I had enough time and words to fully express my love for this sassy elixir.  Suffice it to say that it’s so much more complex than mere heat, and that’s why it beats the pants off hot sauce pretenders.  I use it liberally and cook with it regularly.  Nothing makes me happier than dining in restaurants that provide a bottle on each table, and I often consider carrying my own around in case I visit a place that doesn’t have Tabasco.  I have not yet done this for fear of embarrassing myself and my dining companions, but it’s always an option.

Today’s Weigh In:  Part of the conceit of this site is that I’m making some minor effort at weight loss while running around eating everything not tied down.  This is the part where I report the latest depressing stats about the progress of my mass.  I do it to keep myself honest, and as an attempt to give this whole enterprise a dramatic twist.

 

 

17 Comments

  1. El Jefe do Todos Los Chingones says:

    >> In this forum, “football” is always soccer. After five years in Europe, I can’t call this game “soccer” – it hurts my ears and my soul. For the Americans, we’ll call the other “football” either gridiron, or NFL or American football.

    Love your site (love all food porn) but your assertion is a bit twee, isn’t it? “Soccer” is an English (not American) term.

    Just sayin.’

    • mjbyers says:

      Ahhh….soccer is indeed English term but not widely used there. Used all the time here to distinguish from NFL, hence the pain to ear and soul. Thanks for the kind words!

      • Sherina says:

        The actual name is “Association Football”, which is usually shortened to Football. However, because “Football” could mean many different things, from American Football, Candadian Football, Australian Football and in some cases, Rugby, countries in which that sport is more popular they use the other shortened form, soccer (Shortened form of asSOCiation). Therefore, the US, Canada, and Australia call it soccer while everyone else calls it football.

      • James says:

        Football was invented in England. Other countries invented games they called football but as the English version became worldwide and so popular these coutries also took up the English sport. But to distinguish sports the English version became soccer. But to my knowledge only America and Australia use soccer. Canada might but I just don’t know! Futbal fusbal etc Is just football in a different language.

    • Mythri says:

      I doubt it ever will (worldwide I mean). In some countries it will make hewaday. But in countries where there is already a form of full contact football (ie rugby union, rugby league, or australian rules) it will be a lot harder (and possibly impossible) to catch on. Take, for example, how rugby union is doing in the US. Despite being a very different game the simple fact that it appears to rival American football has made it nearly impossible for rugby to gain a good strong support base (not that its support base is wimpy it’s just too small).Until people can realize that each type of football (rugby union, rugby league, AFL (australian rules not arena), association/soccer, American, gaelic, etc) is really an entirely unique game that has its own pros and cons, it will be very hard for them to coexist.

  2. Xusso says:

    FYH gives the best answer above. The official name for soccer is Association Football. The word soccer is an old English slang term for Association Football. In some places, including in the US, there was already a different sport called football. In those places the word soccer became the official name of the sport to avoid confusion. In lands where soccer is called Association Football, the sport called football in North America is generally referred to as American Football. That prevents the same kind of confusion.

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