It’s been several months since I shared a few commonly used phrases and the history behind them. Since the last couple of DYKs were food-related, here are some food and kitchen-related phrases and their original meanings.

Food-Related Phrases

In a Pickle

Originally, in a pickle meant you were trapped without an escape like a pickle in a jar. Today trapped has a more figurative meaning of being in trouble with no clear way out.

Cold Shoulder

When guests overstayed their welcome, they were given a cold shoulder. Today this means ignoring a person. In the past, it meant the hot meals you’d previously served changed to meals of cold meat.

Upper Crust

We’ve all heard this term used in reference to people who are rich or in high society. But did you know it originated from baking bread? In the 1500s, raw bread dough was cooked without a pan, just placed directly on the hot oven floor. The result was a loaf of bread burned and dirty on the bottom, while the top came out perfect, golden brown and clean. Who ate which part depended on your status. The servants ate the bottom, the family the middle, and guests, and the head of the house, ate the top or upper crust.

Chewing the Fat

Did you know this saying is literal? Forget offering cookies to your guests. Back in the day when friends came to visit, you served them dried fatback to chew while you talked. (Fatback, the solid fat from the back of a pig, is tasty if cured with sea salt and herbs—or so I’m told.)

Kitchen-Related Phrases

Square Meal

Having a square meal (or three squares a day) refers to having a good, filling meal. The term square comes from the shape of the wooden plate on which people once ate.

Turn the Table

This phrase means you’ve reversed your fortune, changing the situation to your advantage. It originated with the family’s table. Unlike today’s tables, tables of yesteryear had tops that could be turned. The unfinished, rough side was for everyday use. When company came, though, the family turned the table, flipping over the tabletop to reveal the undamaged and finished, smooth side.

And my personal favorite…

Dessert

When we hear dessert, we immediately think of some type of sugary goodness—cakes, cookies, pies, etc. But did you know the word became synonymous with sweets because, after finishing their meal, people deserted the dining room to eat their sweets in the parlor?

Final Thoughts

These phrases come from colonial times or earlier. And like most phrases, they developed from actual situations. Though the situations no longer apply—I doubt anyone still chews fat while talking with friends—the meanings of the phrases have stayed the same or close to what was originally intended.