Why We Spoon

Foodie word fashions spread fast. Almost overnight in the early 1980s, recipe writers all over the country started to use the word “drizzle.”

The rising new verb of the last two years is “spoon.” Suddenly recipes are calling for “spooning” ingredients when before they might have referred to “topping” or “stuffing” ingredient A with ingredient B, “spreading” B on it, “moistening” it with B, “skimming” B from A or even just “garnishing.” In fact, “to spoon” stands for every action that can be carried out with a spoon except for stirring and eating (at least so far).

The reason for these swift changes is always the same: the ever-declining level of cooking knowledge that writers can presume in the reading public. “Drizzle” replaced words like “dress” because writers suspected (and letters from their readers gave them reason to believe) that a significant number of people weren’t getting the picture.

“Drizzle” is more visual, as it were; it suggests the application of a liquid from above and the speed with which it is to be dispensed. The same thing is going on with “spoon.” For 15 years or so, recipe writers have been nervously adding phrases like “with a spoon” or “in a skillet” because they sense that some readers are a little vague on what utensils go with “skim” and “fry.”

So now recipes are full of spooning. One day, they may call for “knifing up” meat and then “forking” it out of the pot.