Insults erupt over calling "stock"…"bone broth." Seriously. (And: What restaurant branding angers you?!)

Peeps were pissed.

ALL CAPS came into play.

"F**ktard crew" was even thrown down.

Sure, that's what Facebook is at least partially for: rants and rivalries. 

But this outburst was particularly startling (and mostly entertaining) because of the vigor and volume of the venom.

The excitement happened as two local chefs griped about food terms that just annoy the bone marrow out of them.

It also happens as Weekly contributor and gluten-free/healthy eating pioneer Shiho Fukushima introduces a new local bone broth business she's helping with, right as the trend reaches a fever pitch nationwide.

In fact, she dives into the soup and why she's made it for years with a piece "The not so new superfood trending up huge makes its appearance in Monterey."

Back on Facebook, one party decried anyone's attempt "to change and pervert what is historically STOCK."

From another: "It just confuses people, makes them think they are getting something different. It's f***ing marketing. Like if we started making miso soup and started calling it fermented bean broth."

And another, responding to someone who said this kind of thing happens all the time. What's the big deal?

"Just stay in the front of the house and call it what you want…just know what it's called once you get back to the kitchen, and don't tell us what to do when you get there, okay?"

One slightly more helpful response from the same party as that last one: "First of all, broth and stock are not the same thing. They do differ in ingredients, execution, mouth feel, appearance, flavor, etc., and second, no one was worked up, shouting in capital letters and getting personal about a damned thing until last night. If I'm an egomaniac because I don't want to sound ignorant about what's in a kitchen, and certainly not about what's what in a kitchen...then so be it." 

I like a different response best: "My momma likes to take all the deer bones, roast em, break em, put em in a big pot, add dried fruit, allspice kernels, onions, pepper, salt and lemons, boil it low for a day, strain it and jar it. I don't give a shyte what you call it, it is better than church."

Or this note: "I like chicken and waffles."

Or this one: "I actually get aggravated by people that call stuff milk that comes from stuff other than a tit. If it comes from a nut or bean, it is not milk."

For my part, I found the rancor a little like getting mad at restaurants for calling an olive relish "tapenade" or salsa "pico de gallo."

A fine hobby, but about as constructive as banging your head into a vintage pre-Prohibition icemaker.

And since customers buy right into the upsell, often paying more, who's ultimately to blame?

I asked some people what restaurant spin drives them the most cuckoo. 

Here's what I got. What's your rebranding nemesis?

• Rustic - short for sloppy or old

• Deconstructed

• Hand-crafted, hand-churned, hand-dipped, hand-sliced, etc. I would like to see one day a menu touting factory robot arm-grated cheese.

• Anything "micro" 

• Chiffonade for thin-sliced

• Aioli for flavored mayo

• Putting items in French or Italian when the English works just fine

• Mixology or mixologist. You're a bartender.

• gastropub 

• I get annoyed with the terms for all of the sauces...especially if they aren't made properly. Couli, remoulade, aioli 

• When a popular fish has nine different names...tuna being an example. Some restaurants will dress up the name of the product even though it's just run of the mill. Chilean sea bass becomes Peruvian toothfish. Eggplant...aubergine. Lamb's Lettuce...mache.

• Crudites for raw veggies. Mesclun for mixed salad greens. Aperitif for pre-dinner drink.

• House-baked. It implies house-made, but most of the breads served at most restaurants that carry this label are actually par-baked and shipped frozen, then finished off at the restaurant.

There you have it.

For more on the healing power of stock/bone broth, check out Kera Abraham's piece "Local naturopath promotes a GAPS diet based on fermented vegetables, homemade yogurt and gobs of animal fat."

For more on foodified vernacular: