Can You Guess What Food Words Were Just Added to the Dictionary?
As we enter PSL season, it appears that pumpkin spice has found itself a new ally: the dictionary. Merriam-Webster, the oldest dictionary publisher in the United States, has added several new food words this year, and "pumpkin spice" made the cut.
Keeping the definition for "pumpkin spice" as straight-forward as can be, Merriam-Webster defines the term as "a mixture of usually cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and often allspice that is commonly used in pumpkin pie." Sounds about right.
Food & Wine reports that in addition to "pumpkin spice," Merriam-Webster has added nearly a dozen other culinary terms. A number of them, including "birria" and "ras el hanout," highlight dishes and seasonings from around the world.
"Birria" is defined as "a Mexican dish of stewed meat seasoned especially with chili peppers." Another mixture of spices, "ras el hanout" is defined in the dictionary as "a mixture of ground spices that is used in northern African cooking and includes coriander, ginger, turmeric, peppercorns, cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, cayenne pepper, and other spices."
The additional culinary terms included this year are:
banh mi
mojo
oat milk
omakase
plant-based
sessionable
Peter Sokolowski, Merriam-Webster's editor at large, offered some insight on why this latest batch of words were added to the dictionary.
"Some of these words will amuse or inspire, others may provoke debate. Our job is to capture the language as it is used," said Sokolowski in a statement. "Words offer a window into our ever-changing language and culture, and are only added to the dictionary when there is clear and sustained evidence of use."
