The Scripps National Spelling Bee (the finals aired in primetime this past Friday) is some epic word-nerdery, and it's also full of super-obscure and difficult-to-spell food words (yay for learning!). Thirteen-year-old Elizabeth Platz, above, was handed two pretty easy food words late in the finals: matsutake in round six and then gnocchi in round seven; Before the definition for gnocchi was even given, Platz smiled and asked "Is that like a food?" Sadly. she was eliminated in round eight with rhytidome (plant tissue).
But our new favorite food word from the spelling bee? Borborygmus from round five, meaning "the gurgling, rumbling, or growling noise from the abdomen caused by the muscular contractions of peristalsis, the process that moves the contents of the stomach and intestines downward."
Here are all the food words from the Spelling Bee plus video of Platz spelling gnocchi:
Video: Gnocchi on the Spelling Bee
Round 2
mozzarella
tahini
trattoria
delectable
pasteurize
carafe
zucchini
coriander
basmati
culinary
sassafras
hollandaise
masala
heifer
sarsaparilla
canapé
babka
antipasto
Round 3
garçon
pizzicato
cappelletti
matelote
vaquero
caponata
chaudfroid
halal
panforte
pfeffernuss
lebkuchen
fondant
caballero
lecithin
ipecac
witloof
maraschino
prosciutto
kielbasa
Round 4
sautoir
mesclun
Round 5
foliocellosis - a virus that affects cherry trees
caprifig - A fig tree which produces both male and female flowers and is used to fertilize the female trees of the species.
Borborygmus - stomach growling or rumbling
fazenda - a Portuguese word for 'farm', but is sometimes used in the English language for the coffee estates that spread within the interior of Brazil between 1840 and 1896
lassi
mirin
bacalao
Round 6
matsutake
gyokuro - an expensive type of green tea from Japan
Round 7
confiserie - a candy store (French)
gnocchi
· All Word Nerdery on Eater [-E-]