Channel your inner artisan

Always on the lookout for a new catchword, and with "natural" so overused that it's lost its value, the food industry seems to have latched onto "artisan" as the vaguely appealing catchword of the day. It's a little odd because "natural" is an adjective and "artisan" is a noun. I understand that they're using it as an adjective but that doesn't make it one, any more than Blue Cross' spending millions behind their "Live Fearless" campaign" makes "Fearless" an adverb or that phrase grammatically correct.

An artisan is a skilled craftsman. I understand perfectly that calling a loaf "artisan bread" is supposed to imply that it was made by a skilled baker. In a sense I suppose that's true, if someone who operates a commercial oven does it with skilled craft. I mean, it's not impossible. But I don't think there are enough artisans making food to cover everything. Ultimately it's meaningless- "bread artisan" makes as much grammatical sense as "artisan bread."

Speaking of bread, one of my favorite, very true descriptors for bread is "Hearth-baked." Yes, all bread is baked in a hearth because hearth means oven and ovens are where things are baked. The chicken I made for dinner last night was hearth-baked, unless it was hearth-roasted, which is different I'm not sure how.

The only food descriptor I like more than "hearth-baked" is "fresh-picked." Of course it was fresh when it was picked! It might be old and flavorless or spoiled but that wouldn't make it any less fresh-picked.